Crossroads: Back again
by gyikhu
Summary: A lost tomb, an unknown map, a familiar partner. What else would be needed for a great adventure?... and maybe for a little bit more. If you are not the only one after the treasure, you'll better hurry up!
1. Chapter 1

**Well, well... the day has come faster than I expected. I always loved writing Crossroads, so it was simply inevitable that I had to write a sequel. I always thought that Lara and Nate are just about the right pairing, so I hope you will enjoy this new adventure for the two of them and those who liked the first part will find it good enough :)**

**As always thanks for Lara Anne and Arthemida for the beta-reading and ideas... and any reviews are welcome, even requested! :)**

**Have fun reading and if you are interested how they met, read the first part with the same title!**

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><p>The hotel was one of the most elegant ones in the city. Lara stood in the door of the great hall and received the congratulations. There was a patient smile on her face, though if anyone had known her better, they would have known that she did not enjoy it at all. Suddenly the thought crossed her mind why she said yes to this request, but she found no answer to it. After Genghis Khan's tomb had been discovered, all hell had broken loose. Everyone had been curious about her, and she had to devote all her energies to reject the army of journalists, the invitations of universities, the requests from museums and scientific circles. She had hardly put a foot out of the house, and the phone had been ringing without a break. Finally Hilary also had come to the conclusion that something had to be done about the situation. Lara then decided that it would be the best if she accepted one invitation. Then perhaps tempers would subside.<p>

So a few days later she found herself in Berlin, and was standing on a podium, with several hundred pairs of eyes fixed on her. Lara's self-confidence approximated to zero, she could now very well understand why Drake did not insist that his name was mentioned. She could imagine so well how much he would be entertained to see how Lara suffered from her newly acquired recognition. She could almost hear his sarcastic remark: You wanted the glory, enjoy it!

But at least it was over now, and she only had to get through answering the lot of stupid questions the so called experts asked her. At the moment an older man was standing in front of her, who enthusiastically was explaining something in German, whereupon Lara just nodded in agreement. If she really wanted to, she probably could have understood the point, but she did not want. She was not even listening to his words, her mind was on its way home, where she could spend the time with something meaningful. The man was just talking and talking, and she needed all her patience not to send him to hell. _It's only a few more hours_ - she tried to convince herself as she walked down the hall, where the reception was given. She could hardly take a few steps when more guests circled around her and they started bombarding her with questions. Lara was cursing herself for having agreed to this whole thing, but there was nothing she could do now.

In her annoyance she was wondering whether the man in front of her was wearing a wig, who was talking for minutes without making any break in rather bad English, when a young hotel employee approached her.

"Lady Croft?" - the boy asked softly, and after Lara nodded, he handed her a piece of paper without saying a word and was gone. Lara looked after him in surprise for a moment, forgetting about all the still eagerly chatting people around her.

"Would you excuse me for a minute?" – she looked at them lovingly, turned around and left them before they could have said anything. She moved to a quiet corner, and then opened the paper, on which only a single line was written. _Meet me at 11 o'clock at the bar! Important!_

Lara instinctively glanced at her watch, it was only nine. She looked around suspiciously to see if she could spot anyone who was watching her, but she only saw a few smiling faces when she met their eyes. Once again she read the few words of the message, and then meticulously folded it again, while thinking hardly who could have sent it. Hopefully it was not some bored fan of hers, who chose this stupid way to stay alone with her, but something told her that this was not the case. As she looked up, she immediately glimpsed the host of the event, who resolutely approached towards her. It crossed her mind to flee and simply disappear, but it was too late. Lara forced a smile on her face, while muttering a few inappropriate words under her breath.

"Well, Ms Croft. Why are you standing here alone, when everyone wants to meet you?" - the man came up to her with enthusiasm. "Come on, I introduce you to someone who really wants to get to known you."

"I can hardly wait." - Lara said gracefully, and fortunately he did not notice the cynical tone in her voice. A whole hour went by while she was listening to the experiences of a Frenchman in the field of archaeology. Since he had never set foot outside of the University, his stories were accordingly exciting. Lara retained a yawn while she was thinking of grabbing her gun and shooting herself if this would not end shortly. She raised her eyebrows and nodded approvingly when the voice of the man sounded like he came to an exciting part.

When she could bear it no longer, she had to do it. Suddenly she snatched to her forehead, and swayed for a moment. The men around her looked anxiously at her, the hosts grabbed her arm with a worried expression.

"Are you okay?" - he asked her startled.

"Sure." - Lara said softly. "I just felt a little dizzy for a moment. But please go on, I do not want to miss out on this interesting story." - she added faintly. She knew that she had exaggerated a little, but she did not care.

"Certainly not. We can arrange a meeting at any time, and I'll tell you the end." - the Frenchman said enthusiastically but a little worried. "Please feel free to retire to rest."

"You seriously would not be angry?" - Lara looked at him almost pleading, and put her hand on the man's arm. "I am so grateful."

"Could anyone be angry with you?" - he smiled, but Lara was not really listening to him anymore.

"Thank you for this wonderful evening." – Lara said thankfully.

"Should I walk you to your room?" - the host offered and stepped towards her, but Lara interjected.

"Oh no, it's really not necessary. You need to care for your guests." - Lara was so adorable as ever. _That would put the lid on it_ - she thought to herself, smiling.

It felt like a relief when she entered her room and left the crowd behind. Immediately she kicked off her shoes that made her about ten centimetres shorter. She walked over to the window, and for a few moments was just watching the night lights. The piece of paper stuck to her hand as she absently reached into her pocket, she remembered the message right away. She only had half an hour to decide if she went there or not. Although she knew exactly that curiosity would not allow her not to do so.

After throwing off the stylish clothes she could not wait to get rid of, she then picked up her usual jeans and black t-shirt. She took one look in the mirror, and she realised with satisfaction that again her usual self was facing her. Just to be sure she pushed a small pistol in her belt, and then hid it under her shirt. Despite knowing that it made no sense to guess, she was constantly thinking who could have been the sender of the message. But soon she would find it out. Unless it was really just a stupid joke.

After carefully walking down the hallway not to accidentally run into someone from the conference, she entered the elevator. Some nice, quiet music filled the cabin as she pressed the button to the ground floor. After Lara found that the air was clean, she as quickly as possible passed the front desk, and entered the bar. The room was fairly deserted, the bartender looked up briefly, while wiping some glasses. Only little lamps on the tables provided some light, Lara was surrounded by pleasant dim light. She looked around suspiciously, but first she only saw a young couple, who huddled in a corner whispering. Then she glimpsed someone in the back, who sat with his back to her. Her eyes narrowed, while she went closer and increasingly felt that she knew that sloppy posture, these dense, dark hair from somewhere.

"Nathan Drake" - said Lara, whereupon the man turned and smiled at her.

"Lara. I knew you'd come." - he looked at her approvingly. He stood up, walked up to her and embraced her warmly. "Missed me?" – he asked jokingly.

"Extremely. I don't know how this day could have turned out any better still." - Lara said ironically, but her voice told that she was really glad to see him.

"I saw you were having great fun. That performance in there was just outstanding. The poor guy was seriously scared that you passed out right there." - Nate laughed, while they took place at the table.

"You were watching me?" - Lara raised her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't have missed it for any price." - Nate grinned.

"I can see you have not changed a bit." - Lara looked back at him, while her hands were playing with the stem of the wine glass, which the waiter brought her in the meantime. For a moment she remembered how different it had been when they first encountered in a similar situation a few months ago. Then she had not even imagined they would have so many adventures together. She smiled at the thought.

"Should I have?" - Nate asked back, then sat back relaxed and sipped the bottle of beer in his hand. "You don't mind if I don't bother with the glass, do you?

"I thought you realised by now that I do not really care about the etiquette." - Lara replied absently.

"I mean, this is more or less the first time we meet at a civilised place."

"Talking about that, would you let me in what you are doing here? Don't tell me that you're here by accident." - Lara leaned forward and looked at Nate querying, with a broad grin on his face.

"I thought I'd take my share of fun and excitement, too." - he replied jokingly, but Lara was just shaking her head in reprehension not to let him think that she believed any of his words. "Okay." - Nate said, and then he leaned forward too looking deep into her eyes. "I need you." - he said simply.

Surprise crossed Lara's face, and she moved a little further back, whereupon Nate smiled enjoying her confusion.

"Don't worry, I didn't mean it that way." – he laughed lightly.

"I didn't think that you did." - Lara replied right away, maybe a little too fast. She sipped the wine not to be forced to say anything. "So what are you doing here?" - she asked again, when she thought that she gave him enough time to enjoy himself.

"It's not that funny when others have secrets, right?" - Nate looked at her gaily, as he leaned back again enjoying the situation. Remembering how she had repeatedly tried to evade him in the past made him smile.

"Are you kidding me?" - Lara began to lose her temper, but did not show it, just calmly put down the glass from her hand. Even her voice sounded perfectly even.

"Yes, let me enjoy it a little that I know something you don't." - Nate grinned steadily whereupon Lara rose from the chair, but Nate grabbed her wrist when she wanted to walk beside him. "Since when have you become so sensitive to a bit of humour?" – he looked up at her from the chair. "I think you would regret leaving me here if you knew what was going on." - he said meaningfully, and holding the bottle in his other hand he took a sip from the beer again.

Lara came to a halt beside him and looked down at her arms, which he was still holding, but she did not try to shake his hand off.

"You get one chance, Nate. Don't forget that with me there is no second." - she said slowly sitting back down to the chair, crossed her legs and waited for him to start talking.

"Well, I think you realised that I'm not here for the pleasure of seeing that smile on your face." – he said after a little time, but Lara only sent him a sharp look at this comment. "There is a map that leads to a lost tomb." - Nate went on as if nothing had happened, and saw interest glinting in Lara's eyes.

"Go on!" – she said apparently indifferently but straightened herself a bit.

"I knew you'd be interested in it." - Nate grinned.

"I didn't say anything yet. So far it's pretty meaningless." - Lara retorted, while nodding to the waiter, who took the empty glass from her.

"I plan to get that map together with you." – he continued fixing his gaze on Lara whereupon she put her elbows on the table and leaned closer twining her fingers in front of her face and supporting her chin on them.

"And why is it exactly you share this with me?" - she asked, eyes narrowed, watching his face.

"Mere courtesy. Because you have shared Genghis Khan with me." - Nate said lightly, but his fingers were fumbling oddly with the beer bottle, which was almost empty in the meantime.

Lara wet her lips as she felt that she was starting to gain the upper hand. Knowing that the man did not tell the truth she began to enjoy the situation to gouge the real reason out of him.

"I see. This chivalry is really touching." - Lara smiled mysteriously. "And I guess you are even willing to give up the glory if we find it."

"I can see that you enjoy all this fuss more than I would." - Nate looked at her face, but it did not give away anything about her thoughts. Suddenly, it felt as if that same nerve-racking poker game was running between them, just like in Kuala Lumpur.

"Are you seriously thinking that I take all this bull-shit?" - Lara finally said cheerfully.

"Well, I wasn't sure, but I thought I'd give it a try." - Nate laughed, amused as he looked at her face.

"Then let's say that now is your chance to tell me what you want from me or I'm gone in a second." - Lara said in still a friendly tone and patted his hand on the table.

"Okay, let's start it again. So, the map really exists, but I don't yet know where it leads to. Therefore we need to get it to find out."

"Is it here in Berlin?" - Lara asked curiously.

"No."

"And what are you doing here then?" - she still could not put the pieces of the picture together, but now she decided to wait and see what he would be telling her.

"The map will be up for auction in a very closed circle in a few days in a rural mansion. That's the time frame for us to get it, else it will disappear in some collector's safe after."

"Where is this rural mansion?" - Lara asked the question.

"I don't know."

"Where is the map?"

"I don't know."

"Who puts it on sale?"

"I don't know."

"Then what do you know at all?" – Lara asked point-blank as she was losing her temper more and more.

"Calm down. Patience." – Nate teased her, but he began to realise that he had reached the limits. "Here it comes into the picture, why I'm here, and which will answer all your questions."

"And what would that be?"

"We get an invitation to the event. There we get hold of the map before it's up for auction." - Nate leaned back with satisfaction, like someone who did a good job. "What do you think?"

"I'm speechless. That's a simply phenomenal plan." - Lara taunted. "What makes you think that we can get an invitation just like that?"

"Use your imagination a bit." - Nate was teasing her even further, Lara was enjoying less and less that he was playing with her like this.

"Help me out if you are such a genius." – Lara retorted.

"Well, is it enough to say that there is someone staying in this hotel who has an invitation to this auction?" - Nate whispered although there was no one around who would have overheard the conversation.

"Hmm .." - Lara leaned closer. "Do you have the same on your mind as I do?" – she asked more and more enthusiastically.

"Well, I have some doubts, but let's say that I know what you're thinking." - he looked straight into her eyes and grinned cockily.

"Now tell me one last thing." - Lara was holding his gaze, ignoring his ambiguous comment.

"What would it be?" - Nate asked cheerfully.

"Why do you need me? I don't think that this small task would cause you trouble." - Lara was now watching him more intensely as ever before. She wanted to know whether he told her the truth.

"You'll see soon enough." - Nate looked back at her defiantly smiling mysteriously.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where are we going?" - Lara asked eagerly, as they were walking along the corridors of the hotel.

"Of course to my room." - Nate said, then turned right around the corner and stopped in front of a door. "We need to talk about a few things before we jump into this." – he opened the door, entered the room and turned on the light loosely.

"My goodness, have you been robbed?" - Lara was wondering in amazement as she entered behind him and looked around.

"Why would I have been robbed?" - Nate asked back absently, while throwing away some clothes, which lay on the chair, swept away a pile of take-away boxes of Chinese food from the table, then shoved the city map to the ground, which was spreading over the bed, and plopped down on its place. "Sit down!" – he pointed to the now empty chair.

"Since when have you been here that you could make such a mess?" - Lara still did not believe her eyes. In the whole room there was almost not a single place that was not covered by something.

"I'm really sorry I had no time to clean." - Nate said casually.

"But you do know that in a hotel someone would do this for you, if you put the sign on the door?" - Lara picked up one box, sniffed in it and threw it back to the table frowning. "How can you eat this?"

"Can we maybe get to the point?" - he looked at her expectantly and waited, until finally Lara looked back at him. "In case you can get over the appearance of the room."

"Then start telling me." - Lara leaned back on her chair settling as comfortable as possible.

"So, the guy is staying here with his wife on the top floor. Don't ask me why, the castle is likely to be in the vicinity. Anyway, we need to get the invitation today, else we miss the whole thing." - Nate said while leaning back on the bed he propped his head against the headboard, and crossed his ankles as if he did not even want to move anymore.

"What are we waiting for then?" - Lara looked at him somewhat puzzled.

"We wait a little longer just to be sure that they're really sleeping. It's only midnight." – he said. "Until then, tell me, how did the lecture go?" – he asked with a grin. "I wanted to listen to it but had no time."

"Very funny." - Lara looked back at him angrily. "But I need to disappoint you. I have better things to do than sitting around here with you. So you can find me in my room when you'll decide it's time to act." – she said and the door slammed shut behind her before Nate could have uttered a word.

Lara threw herself on the bed and thought about what she had heard. It was strange to say the least that Nate suddenly just appeared right here, but she was also very pleased that finally some new adventure was in sight. She really began to get fed up with the talking and administrational non-sense that filled her days since they had found the grave. She picked up her gun from under her pillow and checked the magazine in it, then absent-mindedly made sure that it worked perfectly. Putting the headset in her ear she sat up on the bed. After hesitating for a moment, as it was already quite late, she dialled knowing that Bryce sat in front of the computer around the clock anyway.

"Lara!" - the man talked at the other end of the line in a little sleepy voice.

"Did I just wake you up?"

"Oh no, I've been working on a new robot, which will be better than any so far."

"Bryce!" – Lara said before he could have been too absorbed in the subject. "You won't believe whom I ran into here."

"I don't even guess." - Bryce answered as he had no idea.

"Nathan Drake."

"Hmm ... very interesting." – Bryce mused to himself.

"That's what I think too. And of course it turned out that he is here for a reason. The only question is how I come into the picture."

"You don't think that it's a coincidence?" – Bryce retorted.

"You do?"

"So you don't trust him?"

"I never said that. So far he had not given me a reason not to do so. But I keep my eyes open." - Lara said, then raised her head when she heard knocking on the door. "I must go now. I'll call you when I know more." - she added and quickly cut the line.

As soon as she opened the door, Nate was standing in front of her loosely leaning against the wall.

"Ready?" – he looked at her asking.

"I am if you are." - Lara said. "How are we going to get into the room?" - she asked but Nate did not have to answer after he waved an access card in front of Lara's face. "I don't even ask how you got it." - she said ironically.

"Let's just say that I made a little different use of the housemaids than cleaning." - he grinned seeing her disapproving look.

"I don't want to know." - Lara answered.

"Strange. If I remember well, you also like to use your charms if the circumstances call for it." - Nate continued joking, enjoying the situation more and more.

"That was different." - Lara said, while shutting the door behind her.

"Why is that? - Nate could not resist forcing the question a little further.

"Because I didn't mean it. Can we change the topic now?" - Lara blurted out angrily, and walked towards the elevator.

"As far as I'm concerned you can try it again any time if you mean it seriously." - Nate smiled and followed Lara grinning.

"Forget it" – she suggested without looking back to him. Pressing the call button she was wondering why this topic annoyed her at all.

"You shouldn't think of anything bad. I only borrowed it." - Nate said, when they were in the elevator, but Lara did not respond, she was just quietly tapping her foot.

"Which room is it?" - she said at last, after the door opened.

"1040." - Nate said, and as someone who already knew the way, turned left on the corridor. Silently he sneaked there and put his ear to the door. As he didn't hear any noise for a longer time, he beckoned to Lara, who was watching the corridor, but did not experience any activity. "So now we quietly creep in and find it."

"Do you think I'm doing this for the first time?" - Lara looked at him annoyed.

"Of course, I almost forgot how much experience you have with breaking and entering." - Nate teased her even more with the handle in his hands. "But it would be nice if we were not caught this time." - he added with a grin. "Who knows if this guy would fall for your charm."

"Are you finished? Can we go now?" - Lara looked at him so furiously that Nate did not dare to grin anymore. He nodded and pushed the card into the lock, on which after a soft chirping the light changed to green.

Nate went in and carefully made two steps in the dark. Fortunately, the living room curtains were not pulled in, enough light filtered in from outside not to fall over something. He motioned to Lara, who followed, and then quietly closed the door behind her. Nate pointed to the right, then looked at Lara, who nodded and headed in that direction. Her feet touched the floor silently, she moved like a cat. For a few moments Nate watched her only seeing her silhouette, which was equally exciting, but then he went the other way, and began to look through the papers, which were lying on the table. Lara picked up the briefcase, which stood near the door, looked through its content, but found nothing.

"Our only chance is that it's in the bedroom." - Nate whispered so softly that Lara could barely hear his voice, when they met behind the sofa. Then suddenly, some noise hit his ears from the bedroom. Without thinking he grabbed Lara's arm and dragged her to the floor beside him. The bedroom door opened, and they only heard that someone stumbled out yawning, and then another door closed behind him. After a short time a splash of water hit their ears, then the person stumbled back to bed.

"It seems that our friend can't hold it for a whole night." - Nate grinned softly.

"Now what?" - Lara said as they were squatting on the ground.

"I guess we wait a bit that he falls asleep again. Like I said, we need to get the invitation today." - Nate said, and then sat down on the floor and eased back against the sofa.

"Well, that's great." - Lara whispered. "Are you sure that it's here at all?"

"Where else could it be?" - Nate asked back absently while staring out the window.

"I don't know if this so called map exists at all or you just dragged me into something." - Lara said softly.

"You don't trust me?" - Nate looked at her a little bit surprised.

"I didn't say that." - Lara sighed. "I just don't like to be left in the dark." For a while silence reigned between them, they only listened if they still could hear any noise from the room. Nate tipped his head back and absently fumbled at the chain around his neck.

"What about me inviting you to something one evening?" – he said suddenly in a whisper. Lara raised her head a little surprised.

"Didn't we just drink something together?" - she countered.

"You know that's not what I meant." - Nate said.

"Then what?"

"Are you not willing to understand me?" - he looked a little grudgingly.

"Do I get it right that Nathan Drake wants to ask me out on a date?" - Lara was smiling in the dark, her gaze fixed at him.

"If you want to call it like this, then go ahead. Would it be such a terrible idea?" - Nate asked a little less confidently.

"No ... I don't think it would be a terrible idea." - Lara mused to herself, watching his face in the twilight. "The only question is what your new housemaid girlfriend will say to this?" - she joked smiling.

"Damn it, Lara. Let's go get that damn invitation and get out of here. "- Nate said a little angrily, and sprang from the ground.

"I see you don't like it either when I play with you." - Lara could hardly resist to not to laugh out loud but pulled herself together.

Nate swallowed a comment, and instead focused on the job from then on. He quietly opened the door a crack and peered in. After his eyes got accustomed to the darkness, he looked around and saw it. The envelope was lying on the chests of drawers at the other end of the room. Only a single white envelope was to be seen, but somehow he was sure that was it.

"Wait here, it's better only one of us goes in." - he whispered back to Lara, who still had an amused expression on her face. Nate turned away from her again, somewhat resentfully.

He sneaked in, carefully making sure not to touch anything or cause any noise. He moved so slowly, as if every move was planned separately. Carefully he put the weight from one leg to the other lest the floor would creak beneath his shoes. Meanwhile, his gaze slid from the bed over to the envelope and then back again. He held out his hand towards the paper, almost reaching it, when the man moved in bed with a snort. Nate froze in mid-gesture, even holding his breath back. Lara was also anxiously watching from the door as the guy turned over to the other side and settled. For a moment as if the air was standing still, disturbing silence vibrated around them. As the man was breathing evenly again, Lara softly blew out the air, which she was holding, and Nate finally got hold of the envelope. He flashed a smile as he glanced at Lara, and then slowly turned back the same way.

"Let's get out of here before they wake up." - he whispered, when he stepped out of the room next to Lara, who was not against the idea. As silently as they sneaked in, they left again and the only thing revealing that they had ever been there was the lack of the envelope.

...

"Show me!" - Lara said, when they were sitting in her room, but Nate pulled away his hand when she wanted to take the paper from him. "I want to see what's inside."

"Patience." - Nate grinned in the other armchair.

"Now you want to retaliate for what I said before?" - Lara looked at him, smiling.

"Would I do that?" - he smiled back.

"All right, Nate." – Lara raised her hands meekly. "As you wish. But now I want you to tell me why you needed me for this whole thing at all because I still don't understand. Don't tell me you couldn't have done this alone." - Lara sat back and looked at him expectantly.

"I know that you don't understand, but that'll change in a second." – he said and finally handed her the letter. Lara looked at him for a moment, but then reached out for it. After looking at it for a short while she then opened it and pulled out the thick paper, on which only a few lines were written. As she read it, she raised her eyebrows, looking at Nate in amazement.

"This was the best you were able to get?" - she said somewhat grudgingly.

"I knew you were not going to like it." - he grinned. "But I think it will be interesting."

"What if they notice that we are not Mr and Mrs Johnson?" - Lara raised the logical question.

"I checked it, no one knows anyone personally. The essence of the whole thing is that it's taking place in secrecy. One had to bid on the invitations as well, not even a small amount." - it seemed that Nate thought of everything.

"What will happen if the real Mr and Mrs Johnson show up?"

"Nobody will believe them. We have the invitation, and that's all that matters." - Nate said.

"And how do I know it's all worth it for me?" - Lara asked conveniently crossing her legs and throwing the invitation back on the table.

"You don't know it but I'm sure that you can't resist." - Nate's voice showed that he was very much enjoying the situation. "So you're in?"

"Well, Mr. Johnson, if you ask nicely, maybe I am." - Lara smiled mysteriously.

"I hope you have everything with you we'll need, Mrs Johnson. We shouldn't look like people who have no money in the pockets."

"Don't worry. I think I have the appropriate vehicle for our entry." - Lara said, rose from the chair and strode to the door. "I guess it's time to have some sleep, don't you think?" - Lara opened the door a crack, and looked to Nate, who rose from the armchair groaning loudly, as if moving caused him trouble.

"What do you think if we practise married life a bit so that we will be able to play our roles believably?" - Nate whispered as he leaned up close to her, standing in the doorway. Lara raised her head slightly, smiled and bit her lip.

"I think it will go just fine without this." – she replied confidently.

"Oh, you should really be a little more cooperative." - he grinned. "But this is also a progress, considering you didn't want to come on a date with me." - he added sarcastically.

"I didn't say no." - Lara replied defiantly, then pushed him out of the room smiling and shut the door in front of his nose. Nate laughed out as he found himself in the extinct hallway starring at the door, where a moment before she was standing still. He shook his head and started absent-mindedly towards his own room.


	3. Chapter 3

The castle stood there in front of their eyes as the car approached on the ramp. It was not easy to find it, but something like this just could not get over two experienced treasure hunters. Wherever the eye could see dense forest surrounded them, the sun shone pleasantly, the tiny stones of the ramp were cracking under the tires of the car as it was inching forward.

"Not bad." - Nate whistled appreciatively as he leaned closer to the windscreen to be able to see the whole building. Lara lowered the volume of the music, and looked around suspiciously, but did not see anyone at first. The Aston Martin only rolled at an easy pace, she wanted to leave time for themselves to make sure everything was fine.

"By the way, it never came to your mind to simply say that Mrs Johnson got sick and you came alone?" - Lara suddenly asked, idly watching Nate. A startled expression appeared on his face. He was silent for a moment, but then smiled.

"It seems I can't think of everything." - he said, but did not look at Lara. Of course, he had thought of it, he was no fool. He would have solved the situation alone, but when he had entered the hotel, and the first thing he had seen on a sign, was her name, he could not resist the temptation. Lady Lara Croft – the secrets of Genghis Khan - it stood at the entrance of the auditorium, and it had made him smiled. They had not talked to each other since the time she had called him after receiving his message with the article. Nate felt that fate wanted them to bump into each other again. Exactly when he needed someone to play the role. He could not have found anyone better for this than Lara.

"Well, then let's get to it." - Lara looked at him as she stopped the car in the parking lot. "Don't forget. Avoid questions, and don't make acquaintances. As soon as possible we obtain the map, and we are out of here."

"Yes, ma'am." - Nate saluted jokingly. "Relax, we're not going to be nabbed. In the worst case, we start bidding." - he smiled.

"I don't think that would be the worst case." - Lara cautiously pointed to a balcony, where an armed guard appeared in the very moment. "I think this won't be as easy as we thought."

"Such a little thing won't deter us, right?" - Nate said, then opened the door and climbed out of the car when he saw someone heading towards them.

"Welcome to the estate. May I see your invitation?" - a man approached, and bowed stiffly. The suit fit him like a glove, his English had a slight accent. Nate pulled out the letter, and handed it to him. "Welcome, Mr and Mrs Johnson." - the man continued, after having checked the names on the list. His eyes gleamed with mild disdain, as he looked at the guest's clothing, but it was not his job to criticize. Jeans, boots, cargo pants, t-shirts, not what he was accustomed to. "Please follow me, your luggage will be carried to your room." - he added, but Lara interrupted.

"Really nice of you, but we would like take care of our things ourselves." - she looked significantly at Nate, who after exchanging some quick glances finally succumbed and walked to the boot. "Would you bring up the bags, darling?" - Lara charmingly asked him, and followed the butler, leaving Nate alone with the five bags.

"Yeah, of course, sure. Why wouldn't I carry all the stuff all alone?" - Nate muttered to himself, simultaneously trying to hang all the baggage he found on his shoulders. "What the hell does she keep in these?" – he mumbled to himself, when he raised one bag. _You'll get this back_ - he thought yammering and after a lost battle with the bags he struggled to walk towards the building.

Lara and the butler were standing in the lobby. The man explaining in a cool voice, she absently listening while reading a piece of paper.

"... you can use anything in the guest wing of the castle, but Herr Schiffen would highly appreciate you to respect his privacy and not to visit the rest of the house. A further description of the program is to be found on the sheet you are holding. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Please follow me." - the man said, then started going up the stairs.

"Let me help you." - Lara turned to Nate, and smiling she took her backpack from him. "What took you so long?" – she asked jokingly, and followed the butler. Nate was just annoyed, looking after her, while his shoulders had already ached heavily under the heavy bags.

Nate entered the room, with a loud groan he dropped the luggage to one of the armchairs, then himself to another, while somewhat irritated he looked around the room.

"What the hell do you keep in these?" - he said at last, massaging his shoulders.

"Only the most necessary." - Lara stepped up to the terrace door, flung both wings open, and walked out into the open space. "You'll thank me to have thought of everything." – Nate could only hear her voice distantly, as he lost sight of her. He lifted the sheet of paper, which was previously seen in Lara's hands, and which now lay in front of him on the small table. After briefly running his eyes over it, a slight grimace appeared on his face, as he threw it back. "Something you don't like?" - Lara looked at him again as she returned to the room.

"The auction will be tomorrow afternoon, until then we must find out where the map is kept." - Nate said, still sitting in the armchair.

"The party tonight will be just the right occasion for this." - Lara picked up one bag, and began rummaging through it. "I hope you didn't break anything." - she said without looking up.

"Party? Don't tell me you seriously want to go to this party." – Nate straightened up for the first time, waiting for her answer.

"Of course we'll go. Don't you think it would be a bit suspicious, if we don't? - Nate sighed in a way as if he had been told Christmas was falling out this year. "We're trying to gather some information, in the first occasion we disappear and get the map while the others enjoy themselves."

"It's written here you need to wear a dinner jacket." - Nate was reading the paper again with some indignation.

"Now don't tell me you don't have one" - Lara looked at him sharply. But then her lips curved into a smile seeing his sour face. "It's good that I thought of everything." – she said cheerfully. "Come on!" - Lara grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the corridor. "Let's look around a little bit."

...

The castle was beautiful, lots of corridors, even more rooms. It managed to retain the medieval atmosphere, but all the equipment was in line with modern demands. Lara looked up to the high ceiling in amazement as they slowly walked along, old, but shiny armours were lined up, the walls were decorated with colourful flags. Nate tried to remember everything so that they would not get lost later. All the time they did not run into anyone else.

"I think this still must be the guest wing." - Nate could not understand himself why he was whispering.

"You're right." - Lara replied, but then they stepped out to a balcony located above the main entrance. Downstairs the butler was explaining to another guest who just arrived. The woman looked like a movie star, wearing a broad hat, so her face could not be seen from up above. Two men accompanied her, who looked like twins, wearing the same kind of suits.

"Who could that be?" - Nate walked to the railing beside Lara, watching her curiously.

"I have a feeling that we would very soon find out." - Lara said more to herself, when in that moment the woman lifted her head and looked up at them as if she had felt being watched. Her eyes met with Lara's, and then they moved over to Nate, smiling confidently. When the woman marched up the stairs, another man appeared in the lobby, being warmly welcomed by the butler. Lara narrowed her eyes for a moment. Somehow that face seemed familiar to her, but she did not know where from. "Come on!" - she said, and turned away before the man could have glimpsed them. She could not risk it being recognised by someone. Although for some reason she was sure that Mr and Mrs Johnson did not use their real names either.

As they turned right on the corridor, suddenly a closed door appeared in front of them. Lara cautiously turned the handle, but the door was locked.

"Maybe now we'll find something here." – she stated enthusiastically, and then knelt on the floor to take a closer look at the lock. It did not seem too complicated. Nate almost did not even grasp it when he already heard the faint click, and Lara opened the door a crack.

"Well, you're not wasting time." – he looked at her grinning.

"I like to get to the point quickly." - Lara replied softly, and then sneaked in to the next corridor. Nate cast a glance behind him, to make sure no one saw them, but then immediately followed her.

Amazed, he discovered that this part of the castle made a considerably different impression. It was furnished much more modern, instinctively he walked more cautiously. Lara flattened to the wall at the corner, and looked out.

"Now it's getting a bit more complicated." - she whispered softly, pointing to the wall, where cameras were placed in every corner.

"I think we found it. The map must be somewhere in here." - Nate stuck his head out from behind the wall a bit, but quickly pulled it back again, when an armed guard walked through the hallway, where they saw the cameras. "The only question is how we get in there."

"We'll see, yet it would not be smart to draw attention to us." - Lara whispered. "We'll come back later." - she added, and they sneaked back the same way they came from.

...

As they returned to their room, Lara immediately grabbed her headset and dialled.

"Bryce! I need your help." - she said hastily.

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"Get us the layout of the castle and send it through to my PDA. In addition, I need you to find out all about the security system very quickly. Without you we won't be able to get in."

"It's easier said than done, but I'll try." – Bryce said.

"Don't just try, Bryce, do it!" - Lara said very clearly, and then she cut the line. Nate stretched over the bed, and watched Lara walking up and down the room, while she arranged two more calls, and then she looked at him with satisfaction.

"I think we are done." - she said enthusiastically. "Now it's the time to get prepared." - Lara watched smiling as a gloomy look passed over his face to this statement. "Relax, Nate. You'll survive."

"If you say so." – he said, but he still didn't seem much more content.

"I'll be in the bathroom. The tuxedo is in the bag, get dressed." - Lara said while she picked up another piece of luggage and walked out of the room.

"You always have a tuxedo with you just in case?" - Nate wondered, as he pulled the clothes from the holder. "And not just any." - he looked astonished.

"I'm glad I hit your taste." - Lara smiled, and then slammed the door behind her.

Nate resignedly yanked himself out of his jeans and T-shirt he had been wearing, and was eyeing the suit with discretion for a while. He could not remember when he had something like this on for the last time. However, as his hand ran over the fine material, he was not even sure if he had ever worn something like this before. He picked up the shirt, and slowly fastened the little buttons. Surprised he noticed that the trousers fit him perfectly, as if they were made for him. He lifted his head and glanced towards the bathroom. With some difficulty he buttoned the cuff-links, and finally stepped into the polished shoes. It was an interesting sensation, but he would not have said that he felt bad in them. Somehow he felt stylish as he looked into the mirror with satisfaction.

As the bathroom door opened, Nate looked up absently, but suddenly he even forgot to breathe. As if another woman had stepped out of it, yet it was very much her. If previously he had no idea what elegance was, now he knew it exactly. Lara looked simply stunning in the black evening dress. She stopped for a moment, seeing his wondering glance, and looked at him asking.

"Is something wrong?" - her hands stroked over the fine material at her hips, and then dubiously looked at herself, as if not understanding what he was staring at so much.

"Wow." - Nate mumbled under his breath, as he stood there like a stone statue. A single thought ran through his mind: how could a piece of material induce such an effect on a man?

"I'll take this as a compliment" – she smiled watching him star at her. "You're really looking good, too." - she walked over to him and stood directly in front of him. Nate was still taller than her, but the difference between them decreased due to the high heels. "Come on, I'll help you." - she said quietly, her hands began to fiddle with the bowtie, and after a couple of clever moves she stepped back pleased to look at the result. "Now it's perfect." - she said smoothing out the shirt on his chest.

"Shall we go, Mrs. Johnson?" - he smiled and held out his hand towards her.

"Seems you'll get your date after all." - Lara smiled back and took his hand.

"Oh no." - Nate shook his head. "This is work. I wouldn't say that it's unpleasant, but still it is work. If we go on a date, you'll notice it." - he was grinning confidently.

"Now that we're talking about work, don't forget why we are here. Focus on snapping some information. We aren't here to have fun." – she said as they were standing, facing each other.

"Don't worry, honey. I know what I'm doing. I don't think it will be me anyway who will have trouble to get rid of the admirers." - Nate was ready with the answer what made Lara grip his hand in revenge, so that he playfully hissed.

"In your own strange ways you know how to make compliments." - Lara's eyes sparkled for a moment, which was not left unnoticed.

"If I had known that you go for guys in suits, I would have put on one long ago." – he immediately retorted with a laugh, whereupon Lara nudged his shoulder with feigned annoyance.

"Just don't become too overweening, Nate!" - then Lara turned around, and pulling him with her she left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Lara and Nate walked down the stairs, at the door of the hall they were received by the same butler, who had welcomed them when they had arrived. This time, however, an appreciative expression appeared on his face as he looked at them.

"Mr and Mrs Johnson, please follow me" - he said softly, and opened the several-meter high door in front of them. The room was huge and Nate looked around in amazement. Everywhere elegant people were sitting, dancing and talking. Some looked up as the couple entered the door and Lara had the feeling that some kind of silent battle had already started among those present. As if eyeing each other to see who would come out victorious from the next day's encounter. "This is your table." – the butler said, then bowed and left.

"My lady" - Nate politely pulled out the chair in front of Lara and then pointed on it with a smile. Lara smiled back, and settled.

"Very kind of you, darling." - Lara played along because they were not alone at the table. The other two were an older couple, who were already watching the younger counterparts with interest. Lara gently nodded her head towards them, but did not want to tangle into a conversation if it was not necessary. It seemed that they did not want to chat either. Suddenly, the chatting trailed off in the hall, where a faint tinkle of a glass was heard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," - a deep voice said from the other side of the room. "Welcome to my humble palce." - Lara had never seen the man, but she was sure that he was the certain Herr Schiffen. "Please, have a good time tonight before moving on to business tomorrow." - the man's voice boomed in the room, and then raised his glass, and happily sipped the champagne.

"Would you mind bringing us something to drink?" - Lara put her hand gently on Nate's arm, smiling at him charmingly.

"Of course." - Nate's voice mingled with mild irony that of course, did not escape Lara's attention, but finally he rose and walked towards the bar. Lara ran her eyes around curiously, trying to observe the people, though she knew that if all went well, none of them would have a chance to get the map. She was intently watching the older man, who she had seen at the entrance previously, when someone spoke to her..

"So eine wunderschöne Frau sollte nicht allein da sitzen." - Lara raised her head at the voice, and the host looked back at her, smiling sweetly.

"Excuse me, but to my biggest regret I do not speak your language." - Lara replied amiably.

"No problem, dear. I'll excuse you." - the old gentleman bowed, and then took Lara's hand that she held out to him, to his lips. "Mrs. Johnson, if I'm not mistaken." - he added with a smile of recognition.

"You are very well informed." - Lara smiled back.

"I like to know everyone around me." – despite his age he was very charming, and apparently aware of it. "Would you honour me with this dance?" - he looked at her expectantly. Lara hesitated for a moment, her eyes searching for Nate in the crowd, but did not find him. But then she decided it would not be smart to refuse him, so she rose from the chair.

"With pleasure." – she said while he was still holding her hand. With a satisfied smile on his face he ushered Lara towards the floor.

...

Nate leaned loosely on the counter of the bar and ordered two glasses of champagne. Just waiting for the drinks, his fingers were absently drumming on the counter when someone came up beside him.

"Well, don't tell me you are here alone tonight" - the woman's voice droned warmly as she was quite close to Nate. He turned around and was surprised to notice the woman, who they had previously seen arrive. Without the big hat, he almost did not recognise her.

"Actually, I'm not alone, really sorry." - Nate briefly looked at the woman was really pretty, great shape, elegant face. She seemed to have moved comfortably in such circles.

"No problem, it doesn't bother me." – she said, stroking over his arm that lay on the counter. "It seems to me that your girlfriend also found company." - Nate turned his head back at her statement, and saw Lara dancing with an older man. For a moment he forgot his eyes on her. The man's hand was lying loosely on the small of her back, the dress moulding gently on her curves, as she was moving. "... so we could kill the time together in the meantime .." - only then Nate raised his head again, he did not even hear what she had said. The woman crept closer to Nate, her hands began to play with his bow tie. "Very charming" – she whispered.

"Really kind of you, I hope we'll have the opportunity." - Nate replied as he tried to pull away without offending her. He did not want a scene right now. "Excuse me, I have to go back." - Nate grabbed two glasses, and walked away in haste.

"Too bad, but surely we'll meet again." - she said regretfully, a slight disappointment appeared on her face as she looked after him.

...

"I thought you'd never come back." - Lara joked, as Nate put down the glass in front of her.

"I saw you were not bored either" – he retorted what made Lara smile. But then something caught her eyes, and suddenly she grabbed Nate's arm and pulled him with her. "Come on, let's dance!" – she jabbered, and rushed towards the floor.

"What happened?" - Nate asked curiously while he obediently hugged her waist and they began to dance. Lara however, hardly listened to him, her eyes were fixed somewhere behind Nate.

"That man is talking to Schiffen…. I want to know what's going on. "- Lara replied casually, but kept watching the two men. Nate tried to look back, but Lara interjected. "Don't turn around, it would be suspicious. Just lead me in that direction" - she whispered softly. Nate obeyed, there were only a few steps separating them from the two men's table. For a moment Lara found herself enjoying the dance, his hands on her waist, but then quickly dismissed the thought from her head, and again focused to catch a few words from the conversation. She still could not figure out where she knew this man from, but something told her that they were talking about something important. Nate suddenly spun her around, and Lara got really close to the two men, but they were talking so softly, that she could make out only one word of it. Signal. Nate then pulled her back to him, her body brushed against his with the momentum. The music changed to something slow, so he did not let her move away, they continued dancing.

"Did you hear something?" - Nate asked in a barely audible voice, Lara leaned even closer to his ear.

"All I've heard is one word: signal. I have the feeling that these two people want to talk about it in advance of the auction. "- Lara said while pretending only to the proximity of man would have wanted. His mouth formed the words almost imperceptibly.

"Well, then you can reach them with some surprise." - Nate smiled gently, inhaling her spicy scent. "I think it's time that we disappear." – he said softly, but then again, Lara noticed something behind his back. A sullen-faced guy in a suit approached Schiffen's table, rather hastily.

"Turn back, I have to hear this!" – Lara jabbered again, taking over the lead from Nate. With graceful moves she changed direction, and then they slowly passed in front of the table, just when the man arrived.

"... Which window?" - Lara heard Schiffen's angry voice.

"The second floor, the left wing." - the man said, as he leaned over to his boss.

"Take action immediately, I want the error to be corrected within an hour, otherwise you are fired." – Schiffen hissed, and for a moment all kindness was gone from his face. As the guard left, the confident smile returned to Schiffen's face, but Lara could see that his expression had become a bit more forced.

"I think we heard enough. Let's try to leave unnoticed." - Lara whispered in Nate's ear, who was looking forward to get away from this party. Although he had to admit that he enjoyed the latter minutes more than he expected. And this was not only due to the fact that they managed to collect some information. Even if it was hardly any.

...

The roof of the castle in the northern part did not rise very high, it was one of the lowest part. Lara was standing at the edge of it, and carefully looked down. She was grateful for having everything ready. A few clouds floated through the night sky, obscuring even the little moonlight. All benefited their plans.

"That's where we have to go." – Lara pointed to a spot on the PDA screen, showing it to Nate.

"Are you sure this is the place?" - Nate asked, collecting the rope on the arm, which was already attached to his waist.

"The door we have seen, opened on the third floor. If we are lucky, most of the guards are currently on the second floor attempting to solve the problem there." - Lara whispered softly, and put away the gadget to her bag. In the black clothing she almost completely melted into the darkness of the night, as she was standing on the roof. It did not even take ten minutes for them to change and to grab the equipment, when they returned to their room. They had to act quickly, time was pressing.

"It would be just too nice if we could just walk in smoothly." - Nate sighed, watching the enthusiasm on Lara's face. It was almost like dedication in her eyes. And he knew that she enjoyed this at least as much, as he did.

"If I were you, I wouldn't count on that." - Lara smiled while considering the finishing touches. The rope was in place, the bag on her back, then she put on the gloves. "Are you ready?" – she looked back at Nate, who nodded without a word. "Then let's see what our friend is hiding." - she said, then walked to the edge of the roof. The more or less thirty meters depth below did not bother either of them. They had been in more difficult situations. Lara propped her feet on the edge, and leaned out into the void holding onto the rope. She easily detached and moved down, Nate followed almost immediately. Sometimes a guard passed beneath them through the parking lot, but they descended silently, without attracting any noise. A large light beam scanned the castle walls at regular intervals. It seemed Schiffen thought of everything.

"Watch out!" – she suddenly heard Nate's voice in her ear through the headset, and Lara cowered against the wall in the last moment, before the beam of light would have lit her. They both froze a moment, and waited without a hiss the light to move on. Lara kicked herself away from the wall again, and with a graceful movement she landed on the third-floor balcony. Shortly afterwards also Nate plopped down next to her.

"So now comes the interesting part." - Lara said cheerfully, and knelt in front of the glass door. "I hope you're happy now that I thought of everything and that the bag was so heavy." - she smiled at Nate who took out a small tool from the backpack with a quick flick, and set to work. He quickly assessed the situation, the thin wires could hardly be seen on the window frame. Nate applied the disk on the glass, and with an expert motion he cut out a circle of barely twenty centimetres in diameter. The whole took place without a voice, Lara nodded approvingly, then thrust her hands into the narrow slit. The pincers were light and small, she carefully approached the wire with them. Lara bit her lip as she concentrated on the gesture, not to make a mistake. She knew she would immediately release the alarm.

"This is done." - Nate whispered as he slowly opened one wing of the door, just enough to sneak through it.

"Put on the glasses!" - Lara offered the device to him, then they slipped through the crack.

"Not bad for a small toy." - Nate grinned, wearing the glasses it was as if there was daylight in the room.

"And you haven't seen anything yet." - Lara said softly, cautiously looking around. They were standing in a hallway, which was like all the others, but they knew exactly where to go. There was very little time to prepare, but the path that Bryce sent them, was carved into their minds. They began to sneak towards their destination, Nate keeping an eye on the other side, lest anyone took them by surprise. Passing without a sound, like two shadows, all along the cabinets full with pieces of art, the beautiful paintings on the wall, old flags and armours on the corridors, but they did not deal with them. From the distance they still heard the music that filtered up from the ballroom. Nate would have loved to see the faces when they realise the next day that the map had disappeared. A faint smile crossed his face at the thought. Even though it had been a bit too early to think about this. Don't catch your chicken before they are hatched - he thought absently. Lara began to wonder why they had not run into any guards. Maybe they got lucky, and really everyone was on the second floor? Somehow she could not believe it. However it appeared that Schiffen had more faith in the security equipment, than actual human workforce.

Lara came to the door they were looking for. Squatting down, she softly spoke into the headset.

"Bryce, you there?" - she whispered, and listened for a while.

"Sure." - the familiar voice said on the other side.

"You can start." - Lara said quietly, it could be heard that Bryce began to hammer on the keyboard at lightning speed.

"You have half an hour in there. Then they will realise it's not a live picture they see on the monitors." - Bryce said in a short while.

"Thanks, that will be just enough." - Lara cut the line, and opened the door a crack to spy out. She could only hope that the cameras over their heads really did not show the real picture, otherwise they would be busted very quickly. In any case, they sneaked along the walls as fast as they could. As they went deeper, no music could be heard any longer. Ominous silence surrounded them.

"The safe must be in there." - Nate whispered behind Lara, but his voice was still sharp in the silence. Lara came to a halt at the corner, Nate flattened against the other side as he watched the guard at the door. As they could not speak, Lara began to give different hand signals, but Nate only shook his head, and gestured something else. Perhaps two minutes passed with this grotesque, silent battle before Nate got bored. When the guard turned away, he suddenly jumped out, sneaked behind him, and after a quick move the man was lying unconscious on the ground. Hurriedly, he pulled the body into a dark corner.

"That is also solution." - Lara snapped as she walked by, Nate just grinned.

To her surprise, the door was not locked, but when they entered and put on the glasses again quite a spectacle awaited them. Lara quickly shut the door behind her, and took a deep breath.

"I hope you know how to move." – she assumed, ironically looking at the many laser beams, which were criss-crossing the whole room.

"Can't Bryce turn it off?" - Nate asked frowning.

"We don't have time." – Lara answered. "We have to get to the safe quickly." - Lara stepped closer, and then lifted one leg to step over the first beam. "So far, it was not that hard."

"What if I just wait for you here?" - Nate asked jokingly, but when Lara looked at him, he did not try anymore and followed her. First, he just watched her moving forward for a while, inch by inch, calculating each movement. Her body was so flexible that Nate did not even know that the human body was capable of such moves. Lara just lied down to the ground to carefully crawl under a beam when she heard Nate's voice.

"How about tomorrow evening?" – he said in an easy tone, while he was about to step over one of the green beam. At least through the glasses they looked green. It took Lara a few moments to realise Nate was talking to her, she was so focused on the task.

"What?" – she asked back in a few seconds in confusion, without stopping.

"I thought we might go out somewhere tomorrow night." - Nate went on as if nothing had happened. He raised his legs, then bent down to fit between two beams.

"This just occurred to you now?" - Lara asked back in disbelief. If they had not been in this situation, she would have probably laughed out. But now she just could not believe that this was on his mind.

"Now we have time to talk anyway." - Lara could not see the grin on his face. It was better that way.

"What if you rather pay attention not to touch the laser?" - Lara muttered, as she pushed herself on in a rather strange posture.

"You won't always be able to evade the question." - Nate retorted, and then he lay on the ground when he came to the point where previously Lara crawled through.

"I didn't say I wanted to eva ... .. " - Lara whispered, but suddenly the words froze on her lips, when she tipped in the middle of a move, and almost lost her balance. Standing on one foot, she was fighting with every of her nerve against leaning more to the left. She even held her breath back, clenched her eyes. Instinctively, she would have grasped something, she had to restrain herself not to reach out her hand in the air. She knew it would have been a fatal error. This was the decisive moment, she felt it in her every bit. It was only a fraction of a second, but she knew that if she succeed, she would manage. Her sole once wavered, but her weight was moving back in the right direction, relieved to feel her balance was regained. Quickly she took the last two steps, and let the air out of her lungs, once she arrived to the other side.

...

"Do you have any ideas?" - Lara said as she turned around thinking, watching the rays that cut off the path towards the safe. They looked like a prison gate, crossing the air so close to each other that it was impossible to pass them. The beams started off the ceiling, and ran over the total height of the room, surrounding the safe in a semicircle.

"I was thinking about this all the way here." - Nate replied wondering, making Lara send a sceptical glance at him. Bryce told them that a temperature-sensitive laser surrounded the safe, but hours would be needed to hack into the system and disarm the device. Lara did not want to risk losing this opportunity. Now, however, she was uncertain what to do. The situation seemed unsolvable.

"Bryce said that it operates on body heat." - Lara mused aloud. "You can go under the beams, but once a warm body leaves them, the alarm goes off."

"So it's inevitable that we'll release the alarm." - Nate stepped aside to see the trap from the other side.

"The only thing we need is enough time to open the safe." - Lara wondered when Nate suddenly came up behind her, pulled her close to him and then took a step forward towards the rays. "What the hell are you doing?" - Lara whispered scared, but had no time to react, the laser was only inches away from her face.

"Shh .. don't wriggle! Walk with me." - Nate whispered in her ear as he pressed even more against her back. "The human body can enter the rays, but can't leave it." - he continued to whisper, when he took a further step pushing Lara forward. He felt that her body tensed slightly as they got closer to the beams, she instinctively pulled back her head. But then she began to understand that Nate was talking about.

"We do not leave the beams, only I will." - she smiled to herself, while the first beam appeared on her body. Despite the fact that the laser did not provoke any feeling, it felt as if it tickled her skin. Her breathing picked up a little bit, excited tingling ran through her body. "Only I move, you stay here." - she whispered softly. The silence around them was solemn, vibrant, Lara could only hear Nate's slow breathing behind her.

"Exactly." - he grinned, hugging her from behind. "Now, hurry up!" - he said abruptly, and his arm slipped off her waist. Lara stepped forward cautiously, expecting a huge crash to break the silence, but nothing happened. She smiled with satisfaction that Nate's idea worked. Briefly looking back, his figure was outlined by the vibrating beams, as he was standing beneath them. Finally, she quickly set to work. As fast as she could she got off the lid of the electric combination lock and connected a small gadget to the wires. Her fingers moved so skilfully, as if she had done this every day. "Hurry up, my legs are cramping if I'm standing here any longer." - Nate complained behind her.

"Patience, Nate. It won't go any quicker." - Lara joked as she watched the little green numbers on the display, spinning with devilish speed in front of her eyes. "I didn't know you liked it quick." - Lara looked up, watching a sardonic grin on his face. They both raised their heads when the safe door opened with a quiet click. Lara reached out and lit it up with the lamp.

"Found it?" - Nate asked impatiently, while trying to stand rigidly in one spot and not to leave the rays. Lara began to rummage among the papers, then finally took out a leather folder and carefully opened it.

"I think this is it." - she said softly, awe in her voice. In vain had she seen thousands of old maps in her life, again and again these findings impressed her. It was wonderful how they were persisted over the centuries, as if they had been waiting for her to be born and find them. A smile ran across her face as she gently pulled a finger over the page.

"Put it away, we"ll look at it once we get out of here." - Nate's voice started to become really impatient, he did not feel one of his feet anymore. He never would have thought that standing motionless for a few minutes was so hard. Lara packed up everything and lifted off the ground.

"Now what?" – she looked at him asking.

"If you're ready, then we run. We have maybe five minutes before the guards get here." - Nate said, and gently wiggled his neck. He looked querying at Lara, who took a deep breath.

"We can't stand here forever, right?" - she smiled and nodded, whereupon Nate turned and stepped away from the beams. The cacophony was deafening after the peaceful silence.


	5. Chapter 5

The cacophony surprised even Lara, but there was no time to think about it. They began to run towards the door, ignoring the laser beams this time. Nate kicked the door open, and they then ran back along the corridor. They had no idea how much time they had till the guards returned, but it could not be much. Turning into the next corridor, where the cameras were disarmed, suddenly some stamping hit their ears. They both stopped, and suddenly looked at each other.

"We can't go back this way!" - Lara shouted, trying to be louder than the alarm. Assuming by the noise of the steps filtering through the guards must have been many. Nate grabbed her hand and ran the other way. After passing the first door, where the safe was, they ran straight forward. At the end of the corridor, two doors opened, but it was to no avail trying to pull them, they were closed. On the adjacent unit there was a little red light flashing.

"Damn it, the alarm surely closed all ways out!" - Nate panted, looking around what they could do. The small light next to one of the doors suddenly changed to green, and Nate knew that within seconds the guard would stream in. Without hesitation he turned and with a powerful gesture he shoved Lara through the first door they found open.

"What the hell ...?" - but Lara was unable to continue because Nate's hand was pressed on her mouth. Then he noticed that the hubbub suddenly ceased, and there was silence. They heard footsteps from outside, as the guards passed slowly in front of their hideout. Even the breath was held back. Lara was sure that any second the door would open and weapons would be facing them, but it did not happen. She could not believe that the guards would have been so inattentive that they did not look into every room, but it seemed so far they focused their attention on the safe. "What is this place?" - Lara whispered, barely audibly, when Nate took his hand from her mouth.

"I don't know. It must be something like a chamber." - Nate said when he realised that they could barely move. His hand got caught in the handle of something that stirred a slight noise.

"Careful!" - Lara said.

"Now what? We can't wait here till they find us."

"You feel that?" - Lara asked suddenly, after some silence.

"What do you mean?" - she heard his playful voice beside her, and then one of Nate's hands moved to her waist.

"Nate, don't be silly!" - Lara muttered in reprimand. "Are you crazy?" – she pushed his hand away and carefully turned around in the tight place.

"Well, I can't even joke anymore?" - there was mock resentment in Nate's voice.

"Air is coming in from somewhere." - Lara went on as if nothing had happened. "Help me up there!"

Nate stepped closer, and lifted Lara, who grabbed the edge of the vent.

"Give me a knife quickly!" – she said to Nate, who pulled out one with great difficulty, and held it out to her.

"I didn't remember you this heavy." - Nate joked as he groaned softly to confirm this assertion.

"Shut up!" – Lara retorted teasingly, then quietly flipped the cover of the vent open, which nearly fell on Nate's head, but she still caught it in the air in time. "Now show me how strong you are!" - Lara said cheerily, and began to pull herself up, while Nate lifted her even higher.

"Do you have some idea where this flight leads?" - Nate asked softly, as he climbed into the narrow tube after Lara.

"I don't know, but the point is to get away from the safe. We need to get into the parking lot" - Lara replied, and then suddenly stopped. "Now what?" - she whispered.

"Why do you ask me when I don't see anything? What are the options?" - Nate could only see her legs in front of him, no matter how he tried.

"We can go right or left. You choose" - Lara said with a smile, looking back at him.

"Left" - Nate replied without hesitation.

"Then we go right" - she said jokingly. Lara took every opportunity to retort for the earlier teasing.

"Women" - Nate rolled his eyes, but he was actually amused.

As they slowly progressed, the metal pipe quietly echoed every sound of their movements. Lara could only hope that no one heard them. Suddenly she raised her head and stopped again.

"What is it? Why are we stopping?" - Nate whispered behind her.

"I can hear something" - Lara said softly. She had no idea where they were, but the muffled voice of two men filtered in.

"We've got to move on, we can't turn back now" - Nate assessed the situation as they could hardly move forward in tight spaces. Lara had to admit that he was right.

"Careful" – she turned back to him, and then continued forward. The tube creaked softly beneath her, Lara paused in the middle of the move. She felt that the metal trembled slightly under her body. When she thought that there was no danger, again pushed her elbows forward, and pulled herself. Then the ventilation moaned even louder underneath her, and Lara knew they were in trouble, but she had no chance to react. The whole structure shook and creaked, then at one place it cracked under their weight, and they both started to slide down irretrievably. Lara already had her guns in her hands when she landed the middle of a room. Two guards were staring at them in astonishment, as though Santa Claus had come to face them. "Hello, boys" - Lara seductive smile, and then with a sudden move she hit one guy on the forehead, who sprawled on the ground. The other one had still enough time to raise his weapon.

"I don't think so" - Nate grinned, when after Lara's action he stepped up to guard from the other side, then knocked him out with a well-directed punch.

"Well done" - Lara looked at him cheerfully. "Now, let's get out of here."

The corridor was suspiciously empty, when they looked out of the door opened to a crack. Lara had almost stepped out, when suddenly she withdrew herself. Not far from them a door opened. They flattened to the wall, while on the other side two guards passed.

"That was close" - Nate blew out a breath, when they were alone again.

"There's the door we saw yesterday" - Lara pointed at the end of the corridor. "I try to open it, until then keep an eye on the other side" – she said, and started creeping to the door. Nate watched her kneel down to look at the lock. A few seconds after Lara waved her hand and Nate started towards her. At the moment, however, when they turned the handle, the alarm screamed again.

"Dammit" - Nate blurted out. The noise was deafening.

"It can't be the door, then we would have released it yesterday" - Lara wondered.

"Maybe it's some other system. Does it matter? Let's go!" - Nate had to shout over the ear-splitting noise, and then simply pushed Lara through the door, instead of explaining any further. Again they found themselves on the balcony, from where they observed the guests arriving recently. Lara almost started to run, but Nate held her back. "Relax. No one will realise anything if we simply walk out of here." - he whispered, when he noticed the crowd near the entrance. It seemed that the noise startled everyone, all the guests stamped there, some nervously looking around, some just wondering. The nerve-racking screaming of the alarm did not stop.

"They will spot us right away, just look at us" - Lara shook her head doubtfully. Their black clothing really stood in sharp contrast to the stylish clothes of the others.

"No, they won't. No one cares of anything in such situations" - Nate said, took her hand and started down the stairs. "Just behave naturally."

They tried to stay as unnoticed as possible, as they sneaked along the wall. Someone turn it off! - they heard from several directions. Lara scanned the crowd while Nate pulled her after him. Schiffen was nowhere to be seen, although this was perhaps not strange given the situation. They had almost reached the entrance, when someone grabbed Lara's attention. Their eyes met, and Lara knew that the man recognised her. She was not able to figure out where she had seen him before, and she was sure she knew this face. However, Nate pulled her out the door, which closed behind them, and Lara lost sight of the face.

They looked around quickly, but there was not much time to think. From one direction a large dog ran out barking furiously at them.

"Damn it, run!" – Nate called out and pulled Lara's arm. Her eyes widened, they ran towards the car, as fast as they could. Nate already heard the dog panting behind him, almost felt it catch his leg. Lara snatched the key from her pocket, and hastily pressed the button on it. They quickly jumped into the car, closed the door as the dog jumped woofing against the window. Nate instinctively jerked his head back although the animal could not reach him anymore. "Let's get out of her before this beast brakes the windows." - Nate suggested smiling, and Lara stepped on the gas laughing.

...

"Show it to me!" – Nate asked impatiently as soon as they sat at a secluded table in a bar.

"Would you wait a moment till I catch my breath?" - Lara looked at him absently. The past few hours passed quite busily. However, since she knew that they would not be able to discuss anything until Nate saw the map, resignedly she pulled the folder out of her bag. In the background, some nice swing was playing. They did not really pay attention what kind of a place they chose. Main thing was to disappear out of sight, and find out what to do next.

"Not bad" - Nate said, watching the map with interest that Lara put on the table in front of him. He quickly closed the leather cover of the folder, when he noticed that the waiter appeared at their table.

"What can I get you?" – the waiter asked softly.

"I'll have a glass of wine, I leave the choice to you" - Lara looked at him.

"I'll have a beer."

"You know what, get me a beer, too" – Lara changed her mind, making Nate smile.

"I didn't know you would drink beer" – he looked at her curiously.

"Not really, but I can give it a chance once in a while" - Lara smiled back at him. "Let's see that map" - she nudged his elbow playfully, when the waiter disappeared.

"I'm very impressed" – Nate wondered. "This is the first time I have a map in my hands, on which I can actually see something."

"Really surprising" - Lara was wondering too. "There are no secret messages or misleading ciphers. Would it be so easy?"

"I don't think it's such a big problem if exceptionally we don't need to spend weeks with deciphering ancient texts" - Nate replied, and leaned back in satisfaction. "Now we just need to figure out which town it is."

"This won't be a problem" - Lara said, and then turned the folder towards her. She pulled her PDA out of her bag, photographed the paper, and then after a couple of quick moves she put it away pleased. "Bryce will find it out for us."

Lara also leaned back and slowly looked around. The bar was fairly elegant, but not so much that they would feel awkward in their clothes. It was actually a nice place. Soft music, dim light, her fingers almost automatically were drumming to the rhythm of the beat. The waiter returned, placed the two bottles and the two glasses in front of them, and then left again.

"Then to the success" - Nate grinned, and raised the bottle. Lara did the same, and they gently clinked glasses.

"I would like to see their faces when they realise that there will be no auction" - Nate's face was delighted at the idea.

"Oh, I don't want to be there." - Lara laughed too.

"I'll never forget the expression of the two guards. They looked at you like at an alien when you dropped in front of them."

"Yeah, I think, they did not expect this."

"I'm sorry about the tuxedo" - Nate looked at her. A significant part of their baggage was left in the room, there was no time to deal with it.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I think we'll survive without it for a while" - Lara smiled.

"Shame you had to leave that dress there" - Nate absently sipped the beer not caring about the glass.

"You don't like what I'm wearing now?" - Lara asked back, while she herself did not care about manners, and raised the bottle to her mouth.

"It's not bad, but that dress ... still I can only say, wow" - Nate grinned cockily as he watched her lips stuck to the mouth of the bottle. He would have had a couple of ideas on his mind now.

"When you take me to such a place again, I'll wear something like this again" – she teased him further.

"Can I take that as a promise?"

"We'll see" - Lara looked at him mysteriously. The phone rang in her pocket. Lara let it ring twice more, then slowly raised it to her ear. "Tell me, Bryce!"

Nate watched her talking to the other man, but did not hear anything from what the other said. Lara sometimes nodded in agreement, gave him a few orders to arrange for things, then with a smile she finally cut the line.

"You seem to be content" - Nate looked at her, then leaned forward, waiting for her to report about the news.

"You can say that. Bryce has identified the city."

"And?" - Nate raised his eyebrows and looked at her expectantly.

"Budapest" - Lara said simply. "What do you know about this map at all?" – she asked him, fixing her gaze on him. "What are we looking for actually?"

"Well" - Nate began, while his hands began to fiddle with the beer bottle. Lara looked at him doubtfully when she noticed it.

"You don't want to say that you have no idea what it is?"

"I wouldn't phrase it this way ..." - he grinned.

"So you do have no idea" - said Lara, and leaned back in his chair, her face incredulous. "I don't believe it. You got me into this whole thing without actually knowing what it is." - though there was slight reprimand in her voice, she could not really be angry with him. "I hope you didn't get this information from some woman like last time."

"That information was also useful" - Nate retorted with a smirk.

"This can't be true. So I'm dead on? "- Lara could not believe her ears. She threw up her hands, palms out.

"No, just kidding. I also have serious sources." - Nate stopped grinning for a moment, and looked seriously at Lara. "Believe me, it's worth going after it. I don't know much about it yet, but you won't be disappointed."

"Well, I hope so Nate. I very much hope so."

"In the meantime, let's enjoy this evening. We've got the map, no one else knows about it, the way is clear." - Nate relaxed again. "When do we start?"

"As soon as Bryce has organized everything" - said Lara. "We will need a few things, and my airplane."


	6. Chapter 6

Lara unpacked a few things from her bag, which Bryce sent her. She changed quickly, then spread out the map in front of her again. On the way in the airplane she had looked at it a thousand times already. They could broadly identify the place where they had to look. The situation was not that simple though, it was not like looking up an address in the yellow pages. Not to mention that in the last few hundred years the city had certainly changed a lot. She walked over to the window and looked outside. There was reason behind choosing this exact hotel, as the castle indicated on the map loomed over them on the other side of the river. It looked beautiful with the night lights, its blurred reflection appeared on the surface of the river passing underneath. Lara generally loved cities at night. They showed their most beautiful faces. Pondering to herself, she watched the lights of the bridge, which linked the two sides. It was the oldest bridge in the city and the prettiest too. Some faint knocking deterred her thoughts. She raised an eyebrow and walked to the door, not expecting anyone.

"What are you doing here?" – she looked surprised when she saw Nate's face in the doorway.

"I promised to take you out somewhere, now it's time." – he said cheerfully.

"Oh, Nate, can we delay this a bit? I'm so tired." - Lara looked at him pleading, but he did not listen.

"If I remember correctly, you said that you wouldn't say no to me." - Nate smiled convincingly, and took a step towards her. "Come on, I promise you'll enjoy it." - he said kindly, taking Lara's hand, who eventually surrendered.

"Well, okay, but the expectations are high. Don't disappoint me." – she agreed, closing the door behind her.

...

A quarter of an hour later they were sitting at a table in the hotel bar, both with a glass of wine in their hands.

"What can I say? Not so long ago, I wouldn't have thought to be sipping wine with you for a third time in a place like this." - Lara said when they softly clinked glasses.

"Well, you simply can't resist me." - Nate joked, tasting the wine. Generally he did not like it, but a bottle of beer did not seem appropriate for the occasion.

"Aren't you a bit conceited?" - Lara asked back, and let the wine run around in her mouth to taste the flavour. Pleasant, spicy.

"You shouldn't praise me so much." - Nate retorted with a smile. "If I remember well, I always held out."

"That is true." - Lara agreed. "We've been through a couple of crazy things."

"It would be hard to forget. Where would you be if I hadn't dragged you out of the water?"- Nate laughed, thinking about their earlier adventures together.

"For the record, I wouldn't even have walked in that trap, if you hadn't been there." - she said with feigned resentment playing in her voice. "I couldn't even count how many times we landed in the water together."

"But we always climbed out of it one way or the other." - Nate leaned back in his chair comfortably, observing her carefully. Sully's words floated back to his mind. Clearly as if he had said it the day before ... 'she is hot'. Yeah, indeed, he contemplated. However, he had seen her with completely different eyes since then. He had to admit that he had missed her in the couple of weeks they had not met. "I imagined you somehow differently when I first saw you at the café there."

"Really? Well, now you make me curious."- Lara smiled and eased back on her chair, crossing her legs.

"You don't think I'll tell you, do you?" - Nate laughed merrily. "I'm not out of my mind."

"You have to now that you brought it up, you're not going anywhere until you do." - Lara threatened him jokingly. There was a sassy smile playing in the corner of her mouth.

"Not even if you hold a weapon against my head." - Nate grinned while he leaned back, but did not take his eyes off her, holding her gaze.

"After all we've been through, you can't surprise me anymore." – Lara wagged her brows. "Come on, Nate, don't be a coward! You wanted to go out, so spit it out! "

"Alright" – Nate surrendered, holding his hands up, palms out. "I had to broach." – he said laughing at himself. "I thought that this would be definitely the most exciting adventure. When I saw you I knew I wouldn't be able to talk you out of coming with me."

"To come with you?" – surprise appeared on her face and Lara moved closer on the chair. "The question was rather if I allow you to join me."

"Of course, as if you had a chance to leave me out of it." - Nate chuckled.

"Don't be so sure of yourself. I could have gotten rid of you anytime I wanted to." – Lara said confidently, increasingly enjoying their little battle.

"Then why didn't you?" - Nate looked at her with challenge in his voice.

"That's a good question." - Lara admitted, seemingly thinking about the answer. "Why didn't I?" – she pondered, looking at him as if Nate had to have known the answer.

"Because you couldn't resist me that time either." - Nate grinned back at her confidently.

"You always have one thing on your mind." - Lara retorted with mocked reprimand.

"As if you never thought of it. Let's not forget who tried to seduce whom." - Nate's eyes were shining more and more as he kept teasing her.

"How many times will you rub it in?" – Lara grimaced slightly. "You can't say that I didn't give you a chance. It's not my fault you didn't take it."

"That game is not over yet." - Nate said mysteriously.

"Somehow, I start to think that if you are around, things never turn out as planned." - Lara teased him further. As she put the empty glass on the table, Nate raised the bottle again. "You want to get me drunk?" - Lara asked absently, watching the glass being filled up again.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice, but I'm busted." - Nate grinned mischievously.

"Not sure it will be so easy." - Lara took the glass. "But you can try." - Lara smiled, just listening to the music for a while. Something soft, instrumental, calming.

"I think it's time to go to bed. Tomorrow I would like to take a closer look at the place on the map." - Lara said, finishing the wine and putting down the empty glass. "It's really been a pleasant evening."

Nate smiled slightly, then rose and walked beside Lara.

"Then let's go." - he said, and pulled her up. "I'll walk you." - Lara took a breath to oppose, but then she changed her mind.

"So what did you say about using chances?" - Nate asked with a naughty smile on his face when they were ascending the stairs. The whole corridor was deserted, no one and nothing stirred around them.

"I told you that you should have taken it when had the chance." - Lara laughed, then turned at the top of the stairs to face him. Nate was standing one step lower so they eyes levelled. His arm slipped around her waist, pulling her against him. Her lips curved into a challenging smile. "I usually don't do this on a first date." - she said defiantly, trying to arch away a little bit.

"How about a second chance now?" - Nate took the last step when Lara recoiled a little. They had been in situations with close contact before, but this was different. He knew it and she knew it.

"How do I know that if I try, you'll not just let me?" - Lara took his hand, removing it from her waist and started to walk towards her room. Slowly, as if not wanting to get there too soon.

"Would it bother you if I let you?" - Nate grinned, watching her walk in front of him, their fingers lightly linked as Lara didn't let go of his hand.

"I don't know" - Lara smiled, her head light from the wine.

"What if I try this time?" - Nate looked at her querying, grabbing her hand again, pulling her back against him.

"You want to seduce me?" – they stumbled towards her room, feet hardly finding their way as Lara was backing, Nate holding her close.

"You think I wouldn't manage?" - Nate came even closer, as they stopped in front of Lara's door. It was definitely a nice evening and it could get even better.

"We have already got to this point a few times." – she kept teasing him, but she did not really try to resist. When her back touched the door, his face was only inches from hers.

"But this time we could go further." – he smiled, holding her gaze. Those hazel eyes fascinated him from the first day on.

"What are you thinking of?"

"Do you prefer me to explain or rather show you?" - Nate looked at her cockily, and Lara's mouth curved into a smile.

"I'm not a woman of words." – she whispered softly.

"Somehow I thought so" - Lara chuckled when Nate's stubble began to tickle her neck. Why the hell not? – the quick thought ran through her mind, and the next thing she felt was that they fell through the door, straight to the floor. - Hurry! – she jabbered excitedly, pulling on his shirt impatiently. Quick and wild, just like Nate had imagined it. Flesh, skin and those lips. He could clearly see the fire, the eager desire, the passion appearing in her eyes. And God knows he felt the same, probably ever since she broke into his flat that night. Now she surpassed all his expectations. Lara turned in a quick motion to get the upper hand, but Nate did not give in, and rolled over until her body was under his own again. The air almost sizzled around them. Nate could very well imagine this mindless, overwhelming, hot night when they just dive in, not caring about anything else. And this amazing body promised him just that.

Lara heard the phone ringing somewhere in the distance next to the bed, but she needed a couple of seconds to realise where the sound came from and what it was.

"Leave it to hell!" – she heard Nate's drowning voice from somewhere. Being lost in all those exciting feelings she almost had no idea what was happening around her. All she felt was his touch, his hands and his lips venturing somewhere on her body. But the phone did not stop ringing. Lara's hands started groping blindly towards the sound, but she did not find it first. She laughed out when Nate's hand reached out for hers, trying to keep her away from doing whatever she was doing. But it was too late, her fingers got caught in the phone's cord and she dragged the receiver to the ground next to them.

"Ms Croft?" - she heard the distant voice somewhere near her ear. "Hello?"

With great difficulty Lara found the phone, but again she laughed out, before being able to say anything when Nate's lips started to play around her navel.

"I just wanted to let you know that your brother arrived." - the receptionist decided to not wait any longer for a response.

"Yeah ... Thanks" - Lara yet somehow blurted out, then dropped the phone, and her fingers skimmed through Nate's hair when he kissed her again. A minute or two passed before her mind realised what she had heard.

"Damn!" - she exclaimed suddenly. "Nate, we have to get out of here!" – her mind cleared just as quickly as they were caught by the passion before. With a sudden movement she pushed Nate away, who was unable to understand what was happening.

"What?" - Nate looked at her in amazement and confusion.

"Someone's found us." - Lara jumped up, trying to find her scattered clothes on the floor.

"What?" - Nate asked again as if not understanding the language she used.

"Get your shirt on!" - Lara shouted once more, hurriedly gathering the most important items into the backpack. "We need to get out of here right now!"

"What happened?" - Nate also jumped up from the floor, seeing that Lara really meant what she said.

"I'll tell you later, now hurry up! Take the map!" - Lara nodded towards the table, while she pushed her pistols in place, and then pressed the headset into her ear. Better be careful - she decided. Nate came up to the table and took the map, while trying to assess exactly where his shirt could be. Lara was already at the door, and opened it a crack. "Quickly!" – she looked back at Nate, who finally found the lost piece of clothing. They just stepped into the hallway, when the four men in black suits appeared at the other end as the door of the elevator opened. Lara had no doubt as to what they were looking for. "Damn!" – she froze for a moment, but the men noticed them. Nate grabbed her hand. "Run!" - he shouted, when the four men started towards them. Nate just yanked the shirt on, when they disappeared behind the corner.

"There's the staircase!" - Nate seized Lara's arm pulling her with him. Just as they kicked in the door, they heard the voices from below. "Great. I can see they wanted to be sure." – Nate cursed when he looked down in the middle, and saw three men running up the stairs. One already held a gun with a silencer in his hand.

"Let's go up!" - Nate grabbed her arm again and started running up the steps, two at once. The entire staircase echoed from the heavy steps that were coming closer and closer. "It seems that Herr Schiff didn't take as so easily that we stole the map" - Lara smiled despite the situation.

"But how did he find us?" – Nate wondered, not slowing the pace for a moment.

"This I want to know." - Lara replied, and then kicked in a door leading back to the hotel corridors of another floor. "Somehow we have to get out of here before they completely corner us." – she panted heavily, trying to identify where they were. The corridor looked exactly the same as the one they started from. Doors on both sides, red carpet under their feet, few pictures on the wall. The voices and the footsteps were approaching, they had to act.

"There!" - Nate quickly pointed to a small trap door in one wall at the end of the corridor. They both ran in the direction, then Nate quickly glanced down the opening.

"Are you crazy?" - Lara looked at him incredulously. "That's an even worse idea than jumping from that rock" – Lara stated as she looked down the steep, shiny metal tube.

"Any better ideas?" - Nate asked back. "Through the laundry tube we certainly get down to the ground floor."

"The question is whether we'll be still in one piece at the end." – Lara hesitated, but in this moment the stairwell door burst open and two men appeared with guns in their hands. It took less than two seconds, till the first bullet whistled near their heads. "You won" - Lara snapped, and she quickly pulled herself into the slot, and disappeared in no time. Nate jumped after her without thinking. The speed shocked them both, in two seconds they had no idea where up or down was. They bumped hard against the metal tube again and again, when finally, after a seemingly endless fall Lara landed in a giant basket full of towels and bed sheets. She moved away in the very last second before Nate would have crashed on her. "Where the hell are we?" - she groaned softly, massaging her aching limbs.

"I believe in the cellar. It seems that our friends were not that brave." – Nate frowned, looking up the dark tube. "Let's move". – they both climbed out from the laundry basket.

"Bryce!" - Lara shouted into the headset. "How do we get out of here?"

"Where are you?" - he replied after a few seconds, the line crackled heavily, Lara barely understood what he said.

"Somewhere in the basement, at the laundry tube" - Lara said impatiently, waiting for the instructions, ready to run.

"Wait a minute!"

"We have no time, they are after us." – Lara said and without waiting for a response she continued further down in the corridor. Another dozen huge laundry baskets were lined against the wall, the passage was lit by cold neon lights. They ran up the stairs one level. After running for a while without meeting anyone, Lara suddenly came to a halt when they reached a door with a small, circular window. Ducking, she peered out carefully. "They are out there." – she whispered to Nate, when she saw a man in a suit, who walked around the restaurant.

"This way!" – Nate pulled her towards another door. When the metal swinging door closed behind them, they realised in surprise that they found themselves in the kitchen. Being late at night they could see no one around, the skillets, pans, knives were hanging unused over the kitchen counters. All clean, glistening, waiting for the next day to start. Startled for a moment by the view, Lara then jerked her head back when she heard some noise and her gaze met the cold blue eyes of the guy she had seen outside just a minute earlier.

"Damn it." - Lara exclaimed, and they began to run again. "We have to hide somewhere!" – she looked around nervously.

"In here!" - Nate ripped up a heavy door, then shoved her in. By the time Lara realised where they were, it was too late.

"Don't shut it!" – she shouted nervously, but the door closed behind them with a dull thud before Nate could have stopped it. "Well, that's great." – Lara sighed meekly. "What the hell are we going to do now?"  
>"Give me a minute to think." - Nate looked around and shivered, running his eyes around the freezing room. Huge pieces of meat were hanging around, all kinds of vegetables, dishes lined up on the shelves.<p>

"We'll freeze to death till anyone finds us here in the morning." - Lara said angrily.

"Don't be so negative please." - Nate looked at her absently.

"I'm not negative, just realistic." – she retorted, walking around inattentively.

"Don't you remember? There is always a way out." - Nate reminded her.

"Yes, yes maybe from traps, but this is a fridge for God's sake!" - Lara snapped. "What kind of a way out are you hoping for? It can't be opened from the inside." - Lara said after double-checking the door. She rubbed her arms when she felt that the cold already started to creep under her skin. Her breath appeared as dense wisps in the icy air. The thin shirt she was wearing did not keep away the cold, she wished she had grabbed something more when they ran away. "Try to figure out something!" – she looked at Nate.

"I can't think in this cold." - Nate joked, trying to stay in motion to keep himself warm. "But I don't mind to try to warm you up a bit." – he continued cockily, and Lara sent him a sharp look.

"I don't think this is the moment." – she retorted angrily, walking up and down in the small room. When she reached the back wall, the headset began to crackle quietly in her ear. First she did not even really notice it, but when she got there a second time, it happened again. Lara raised her head, with one hand she pressed the headset deeper into her ear and listened. "Bryce? Do you copy? "- she tried after a moment, but the response was only static crackling. Lara began to move around, trying to find a spot where she could hear something.

"Maybe if you climb higher." – Nate suggested when he realised what she was doing. Lara looked around, and then tested one of the shelves to ensure how stable it was. When she decided it was strong enough, she stepped on the first shelf and climbed. The cracking sound got stronger, but still could not make out anything from it. Nate held the structure, and Lara climbed even higher. When she could not move any further, she turned her head to the side, and concentrated. "Bryce!" - she tried it again. Then she heard his voice very faintly, barely understanding any of it, but she was sure to have heard well. "You must get us out of here! Kitchen, freezing room."- she kept it simple so he would not misunderstand her.

"La.. trying…you…out" – that was all she could make out of the answer due to the strong cracking, but at least it was satisfying that Bryce knew what happened.

"Victory!" – she jumped down from the top in one move. "Now we just have to wait for Bryce to invent something and hope that it will go quickly."

"I told you there is a way" - Nate said with a smile, and Lara rolled her eyes.

"It was surely not up to you." – she retorted a bit less annoyed. Holding her hands to her mouth she breathed into them to warm them up a bit, then rubbed them together.

"My offer still stands." - Nate smiled naughtily when he saw her moves.

"Drop it!" – Lara snapped but a smile appeared on her face. Then they heard a click from the direction of the door and they both looked that way surprised. "Bryce can still do miracles." - Lara said confidently and walked towards the door. But she hardly opened it to a crack when all her enthusiasm was gone. She meekly held up her hands in surrender, followed by Nate, when he saw the men in suits standing outside, training their guns on them.

"Nicht bewegen!" – one ordered, and Lara was confident she did not have to translate it for Nate for both of them to know what the men wanted. One of the men approached them, and they could not even utter a word before he hit them hard with his gun. All went dark around them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lara was not sure where she was when she opened her eyes. The room was quite shabby, the paint peeling off the wall, the windows so dirty that she could not see through them. The whole place was almost empty, only the simple metal bed stood in the middle, on which they were lying. On the floor old papers were lying scattered around everywhere. She really could not make out what they were. Maybe different yellowed documents, old newspapers? Lara massaged her neck, which still ached where she had been hit. But she began to get used to it. However, when she wanted to move her other hand, she only heard some metallic clatter. Lara glanced at the hand above her head and sighed.

"That's just bloody fantastic." – she muttered softly, seeing the handcuffs around her wrist, which were tied to the railing of the bed. After trying once more, she gave up. There was no point. This part of bed held steadily. Only the metallic rattling echoed in the empty room, when she shook her arm. "Nate!" – she spoke softly, but the man next to her did not stir. "Nate!" – she tried a little bit stronger now, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow, so he groaned out in pain.

"What the hell ...?" - he tried to move, but had to realise he could not.

"I think you're a little bit worse off." - Lara stated, after looking at his arms. The chain of the handcuffs ran under the rack of the bed, holding both of his arms together above his head. Nate nervously tugged at the cuffs, but he did not achieve anything with it.

"What can I say ..." - he said jokingly. "Double bed, shackles, you ... even if not exactly how I had imagined it, but a dream come true." - he grinned at her cockily.

"Oh get lost!" - Lara retorted frowning, wondering how they could get away from the place. "We shouldn't wait until, whoever's caught us, gets here. Somehow I have a feeling that it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation."

"Any ideas? I'm fairly stuck at the moment." - Nate joked.

"Not yet, but rather help me figure out something! We must get rid of these." - Lara shook her hand again. The ring holding her wrist slid along the metal pole, as she turned to examine their surroundings a bit more.

"Why is it that I always end up in handcuffs when I'm with you?" - Nate grinned, watching Lara from the corner of his eyes.

"You ask me? Interestingly enough, this never happens when I'm not with you. "- Lara retorted. Turning back towards Nate, she stopped for a moment of contemplation, looking at him. "Otherwise, you're okay?" - she asked, cleaning a bit of dried blood from his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." - Nate replied absently, and slid a bit closer to her.

"I like this line-up." - she smiled. "The great Nathan Drake, at my mercy."

"Just don't get too used to it, my time will come too." - Nate grinned, but then something on the other side of the bed caught Lara's eyes.

"What's that?" - she asked curiously, trying to rise a bit from the lying position.

"Where?" - Nate asked back, following her gaze.

"There on the floor. Can you get there somehow? "- Lara became more and more excited.

"I see it ... a paper clip on a document." - Nate realised, yanking his hands along the bed-frame, so he could take a better look himself. Sliding to the side of the bed, he stretched his legs towards the paper, but could not really reach it.

"Let me go there and see if I succeed." - Lara said assertively.

"Wait a minute!" - Nate tried to inch back towards the middle of the bed again to give Lara enough space. Since she only had one hand tied to the bed, she could stretch a bit further.

"This is not good" – Lara's handcuffs hit Nate's and they could not slide any further on the pole. "We must move together, otherwise I can't get through to the other side."

"Careful!" - Nate whispered, when the bed began to loudly creak under their weight as they moved. "We don't want the guards to get a bad idea of us." - he grinned naughtily, making Lara elbow him into the stomach. Nate playfully hunched.

"Slip out completely to the edge." - Lara commanded him, and she followed. "Okay, this will work." – there were only a few inches of space on the mattress next to Nate's body, just enough for Lara to climb over him. With a careful move she threw one leg over Nate, supporting her free hand on his chest, drawing the other in the handcuffs along with her.

"I think no one could ask for more than this." - Nate grinned when Lara moved over him, straddling him, and paused for a moment at the statement.

"Don't make me do what's on my mind now." – she said with mock annoyance, deliberately pushing her knees into his thigh.

"But you could surely do what's on my mind." - Nate teased her further, but Lara was no longer listening. Moving her weight onto her other leg, she then turned around and stepped on the floor beside the bed.

"Just a little bit further" - she whispered to herself while trying to stretch so as far as possible. Holding her breath, she pulled the piece of paper with the clip on it closer with her boots. She became more and more confident when she was able to reach what she wanted. Finally, she bent down, removed the clip with one move, and threw the paper back onto the floor. She smoothed the thin wire with lightning speed, and stuck it into lock of the handcuffs. It took less than ten seconds, and the bracelet opened up on her wrist. "Finally" – she let out a delighted sigh, massaging her wrist.

"Khmm .." – Nate cleared his throat, as he was still tied to the bed. "You might free me too?" – he looked at her pleading.

"If you ask me nicely, I might consider it." - Lara smiled, but then opened the lock quickly. There was no time to waste.

"Now what?" - Nate whispered, seeing two shadows strolling up and down the corridor through the gap under the door. He rose to his elbows to assess the situation.

"Somehow we should make them come in. No way to tell how many of them are out there." - Lara suggested, because no matter how she tried, nothing was to be found in the room they could have used as a weapon. They tried not to move too much to draw the attention of the guards on them.

"I think I have an idea." - Nate said, and sat on the bed. "I'm going over to the door, and you make some noise. If they come in, I'll knock them out. What do you think?" - he looked pleased at her.

"What if rather I'd go to the door?" - Lara did not like the idea of playing the bait.

"Oh, I think you will solve it very well. You can distract the attention of men much better than I do." - Nate teased her with pleasure, and before Lara could speak, he started to move rhythmically on the bed. The old mattress and springs began to steadily creak under them.

"Stop it!" - Lara murmured angrily when she realised what he meant, but it was too late.

"Come on, lie down!" - Nate commanded her with a grin when he heard that the guards stopped at the door. "Go on!" - he said with delight in his voice, while he jumped off the bed and crept behind the door.

"For this I will ..." - Lara hissed as she began to move on the bed, but the rest of the sentence could not be heard. Nate was not even sure if he wanted to know what she had said. It had been a long time he had so much fun. He knew that Lara would be very angry at him, but it was worth it. He heard the guards looking for their keys, then the door opened and the two men entered, training their guns on the bed. When they glimpsed Lara, they hesitated for a moment, leering at her shapely body against their will.

"Wo ist der Kerl?" – one asked stunned, but had no time to look back. Nate stepped out from behind the door, and with a well-directed blow he sent one of the guards to the floor. When the other turned towards the bed surprised, Lara's heavy boots faced him and knocked him out with a strong kick. Nate quickly closed the door again before anyone would have noticed anything.

"That's about it." - Nate grinned and knelt beside the two men to search their pockets. Lara joined him, and with one swift movement she picked up the gun from the ground. After having ascertained that the magazine was full, she pushed it behind the waistband of her trousers with satisfaction. They found a set of keys, although they did not know what it would be good for, they took it. Quickly dragging the two men beside the bed, they clicked the handcuffs to their wrists. "At least the two will cause no trouble."

"So, let's get out of here as quickly as possible" - Lara said, and sneaked to the door.

"What about the map?" - Nate wondered.

"There is no need for it, Bryce has a copy of it anyway."

"But there could still be something on the original we didn't notice." - Nate wondered, as he crouched behind the door.

"I don't think so, but just in case, if we have the opportunity, we'll get it back. But I say we shouldn't risk anything for it." - Lara whispered, then opened the door a crack, after verifying she did not hear any noise from outside.

"What the hell is this place?" – Nate drew up an eyebrow. Doors opened along the corridor, the floor was cracked and covered with chessboard tiles, the walls had not been repainted for decades probably. Everything was a dirty, dusty and deserted.

"It's probably a building to be torn down." - Lara replied softly, but did not look back. She tried to decide where they could get out. Sneaking forward quietly in the hallway, they stayed close to the wall. Nate suddenly pushed her against the wall, when voices were heard. Cautiously he looked out the doorway, where they stopped. Three men sat around a clattered table, one resting his feet on it, quietly playing cards. The room was filled with cigarette smoke, and at times they cried out in German, if one was to win. Nate pushed his index finger to his mouth, and after exchanging a brief glance, with a lightning-fast move he jumped to the other side of the door. Lara waited a few seconds to be sure no one noticed them, and then followed him.

In the deserted staircase they quietly descended a level. They almost arrived to the bottom, when something caught Lara's eyes in one of the corridors. She stopped, and moved over to the next doorway. Not far away from them, a man came out of one room, and then with far too much care he closed the door behind him, which attracted her curiosity. When he disappeared again, Lara went to the room. Her boots left clearly visible traces behind on the dusty floor.

"Something must be in there, if they take so much care of it." - she whispered softly to Nate, then pulled out the set of keys they previously acquired from the two guards. "Watch out while I open it." - the keys began to ring softly in her hands. Picking the lock would have been easier, but she had nothing with her to try it with. Probably, it would have taken less time as well. Finally, Lara opened the door, but they discovered nothing interesting at first sight when they entered. On the old shelves books were lined up, papers were lying on the floor, in the middle a massive, but shabby-looking desk was standing.

"Well, I don't see any treasure here." – Nate stated cheerfully. He stepped up to the shelf and removed a book, but it fell apart in his hands. Lara looked up to the noise.

"Don't try to be nosey now, if you can." - she said quickly. "Rather look around!" - Lara began to search through the drawers of the desk, but the first two did not contain anything. When she pulled out the bottom one, a satisfied smile appeared on her face. "Now I like that." - Lara pulled her backpack out of the drawer, and then impatiently rummaged through it. "Of course, the map is no longer in it." – she said, a little down. "But at least everything else is."

"I think it would be time to leave." - Nate suggested, and Lara immediately agreed with him. Since nothing was found, they sneaked back the same way. Lara hardly stepped out of the door when the man they had seen before appeared the end of the corridor, and immediately noticed them. "Damn it .." - Nate cursed and they ran back toward the stairs, not caring about the man, who began to shout. They knew that within minutes everyone would be after them.

As angry shouting filtered in from the staircase, they did not even attempt to flee that way. Nate kicked in a door and they ran to the window. Lara opened the two wings in one stroke, and looked out.

"Come on, don't think twice!" - Nate grabbed Lara's hand and they jumped out the window. "Bike or car?" - Nate asked panting, after glancing around in the yard.

"Bike!" – Lara answered, and they ran towards the vehicle. Nate was thinking for a moment if he should strike back for the earlier teasing and pick the car anyway, but now was not the appropriate occasion to waste time. He jumped on the bike. Lara looked at him sharply, but he did not care.

"Don't argue, I'm driving now!" – he grinned at her, and the bullets whizzed near their heads from the window they jumped from before. Lara finally hopped up behind him, one hand clinging to his waist, shooting back with the other. The guard's body had not even touched the ground, when Nate sped out to the street through the gate.

They had no idea where they were, Nate just raced ahead, avoiding the few cars that were already on the roads in the early hours. They flickered rapidly forward when Lara saw the two black BMWs behind them. There was no need to guess, who were sitting in them. She began to shoot, ignoring the startled faces, who looked at them from the other vehicle, but the bullets glanced off the bodies of the cars. "Shit" – she cursed under her breath.

Nate took a strong turn right, to an upturned overpass, not far behind the cars followed them. "Goddammit!" - Nate yelled so loud that even Lara heard it through the noise of the engine. On the opposite side of the bridge two of the same BMWs approached, completely blocking the road. "Now what?"

Without thinking about it, Lara grabbed Nate's hand, pulling the bike to the side, and with the same motion, she yanked on the brake. The bike trembled beneath them, fell to the side, and began to slide, after they jumped off it. The asphalt grazed their skin, as they slipped a few meters, the bike crashed into the two oncoming cars with tremendous power. A huge explosion followed. They still felt the heat that blew towards them when they hid their faces with their arms.

The two cars stopped behind them, and three armed men jumped out of them, menacingly approaching them.

"Think of something! Fast!" - Lara said, struggling to her feet. Nate looked around nervously, and then realised what would save them.

"Do you trust me?" – he squeezed her hand strongly.

"I don't like the way you ask that." - Lara whispered, watching the approaching men. She liked it less and less when Nate pulled her towards the railing.

"Trust me!" - Nate swung over the railing, pulling Lara with him into the depths.


	8. Chapter 8

Lara landed hard on top of the truck that drove slowly on the road underneath them. They hardly had time to duck before it went under the overpass. She needed a moment to grasp what was happening. However, there was not much chance to think. The next second, as the truck rolled out from under the bridge, an armed man landed vigorously at the other end of the truck. The gesture threw him off balance for a fraction of a second, but he found himself fast, and fixed his gun on them. Lara had no chance to react when Nate jumped up and caught the man's arm holding the gun, punching him with his other hand. The man was surprised for a second, but did not fall. The truck continued its journey uninterrupted on a wide two-lane road heading towards the river. Lara tried to intervene, but had no chance. She could not target without having to risk hitting Nate. The armed man angrily exclaimed, then swept Nate's legs out, who drifted helplessly towards the edge of the truck. The man kicked him, Nate rolled on.

"Nate!" - Lara exclaimed scared when she saw that he got dangerously close to the end of the truck.

"Relax, I'll take care of you too." – the armed man turned to her grinning, then suddenly he shot at Nate, who fell off the side of the truck.

"Damn it." - Lara cursed, trying to stand up, but the truck shook heavily under her. The man took a step towards her, and then raised his gun. Since there was no time to react, Lara jolted forward, but was not able to surprise him. The armed man grabbed her hair and with a powerful gesture jerked her up. Lara punched at him, but the man gripped her hand in the air and twisted it behind her back. Lara groaned in pain when the man pressed the gun to her head.

"Dich brauchen wir nicht mehr!" - the man had to raise his voice for Lara to hear what he said due to the noise the truck made. Lara was desperately trying to free herself from his grip, but the man was too strong. The car ran into a recess on the road, the man lost his balance a bit, but not enough for Lara to be able to use the opportunity. "Was nice to meet you!" – he shouted at her with heavy accent.

Nate could grab the edge of the truck in the very last moment before crashing down to the road. When he saw that Lara got into a difficult situation, he immediately shimmied to the other end of the truck, hanging on the side. When he got behind them, he pulled himself up. Nate knew very well this was his only chance, he saw on the man's face that he was not joking. He grabbed the man's neck from behind, who in surprise let go of Lara's arm. She collapsed to the ground. The truck took a strong right turn, and continued towards the bridge, which connected the city's two sides together. Nate staggered back, the armed man used the chance to hit him in the stomach with his elbow. Lara pulled herself together and turned around, startled to notice what they were approaching. The man grabbed Nate's arm, then pushed him strongly towards Lara, training his gun on the couple again with a sarcastically grin on his face. Lara was not thinking twice. Suddenly she reached up, grabbed Nate's shirt and pulled him down to the top of the truck. The armed man just opened his mouth to speak, when he felt a huge blow to the head. He did not feel much anymore when he fell down after the truck drove into the tunnel. The lights on the ceiling of the tunnel illuminated the truck on which Lara and Nate lay, forgetting about themselves for a moment, relieved that the danger had passed.

"I know you're interested, but maybe this is not the moment." - Nate lifted his head, grinning, as he lay on Lara.

"Maybe you could rather thank me for saving your life. Again." - she retorted, but was happy to see him in one piece.

"Again? Should I count how many times I saved your pretty butt?" - Nate continued to grin, but did not stand up while they were still in the tunnel.

"What if you rather get off me?" – Lara asked when she had no better idea to strike back with.

"But I like it that way." - Nate replied, but then rolled to the side. "How about choosing a different vehicle for moving on?" – he looked at Lara happily, who only nodded. When the car stopped at the next traffic light, they both jumped off.

"Wait a minute." - Lara said, and began to rummage in a backpack, relieved when she finally pulled the headset out of it, and put it in her ear. "Fortunately, all is in here" – she let out a sigh, and dialled, while Nate just watched her with satisfaction. "Bryce!" – she talked into the phone shortly.

"Lara! I thought something had happened to you. Did you get out of the refrigerator?" - he asked back in amazement.

"Sure, thanks for your help. A few things happened since then." - Lara looked at Nate, smiling gently seeing his worn clothing, and imagined that she could not have looked much better either. "Find out where we are now, and how we get up to the castle the map points to." - she gave the orders.

"I'm on it." – Bryce answered. "Meanwhile, I tried to find out something about the map, and I think I know where it leads to."

"Don't hold yourself back!" - Lara began to become excited. They had to hurry, before someone outran them. Whoever was after them, they obtained the map and could come to the same conclusion.

"Well, I think you need to go to the catacombs. The map is not entirely clear, but it must be that. I couldn't find any other options nearby that could come into question."

"All right, then we climb up the mountain." – Lara looked around, realising they are quite close. The tunnel was just crossing the hill the castle was built on.

"Wait, I think there's an easier way." - Bryce added. "There must be a tunnel in the vicinity."

"Right here." - Lara smiled when she recalled the earlier scene on the top of the truck.

"In the middle of it there should be a drain tube, which leads right up to the level of the castle. I think that's the easiest way to get up there. From there, you'll be only two streets away from the entrance to the catacombs."

"Not bad. I'll check in when we know something more." - Lara cut the line and threw back the headset into her bag.

"Now what?" - Nate could not hear the other side of the conversation.

"We're going to the catacombs." - Lara said, and vigorously walked back towards the tunnel.

"That's great. Sounds good. Catacombs." - Nate grinned, and followed her.

"This is already starting to become a habit." - Nate said while he supported his back against the wall to boost Lara higher to reach the end of the ladder. Fortunately, in the early hours there were hardly any cars that could find their behaviour suspicious. When Lara grabbed it, she pushed the end of the service ladder down for Nate.

"This will be a good bit of climbing" - she stated, looking up the dark passage. She had no idea where the end could be.

"At least the scenery is not bad" - Nate grinned when he turned on the flashlight and looked up towards Lara. The passage was narrow, there was just enough space for them climb the thin metal ladder. The lights moved in a ghostly way on the wet concrete walls, as they progressed. Lara's arms began to get tired when she finally glimpsed the lid of the channel above her. Pressing against it, she carefully opened it a crack, not knowing what to expect, but only saw yellow glowing street lights. Not a soul was to be seen in the desolate streets. So she slowly pushed the lid up and climbed out. Nate lowered the plate back to its place, they did not want to leave any clues behind.

Seeing no one nearby, they began to run lightly in the direction Bryce indicated on Lara's PDA. Finally, in the dim light they saw the black metal door in the wall of a house. It completely melted into the surroundings. If a little sign was not show what the place was, nobody would have noticed the entrance.

"Let me open this one." - Nate enthusiastically jumped in front of Lara, and took the thin tools out of her hands.

"Very well." - she shrugged, and stepped out of the way. Nate knelt in front of the door, and began to fumble with the lock. Slowly a minute passed, but nothing happened. First Lara only started tapping her foot impatiently, then another minute later she turned to Nate. "Oh, come on. Give it to me. I want to get in still this year." - she said jokingly, pushing him away. With the small flashlight in her mouth, it only took her a few experienced moves to push the heavy door open. "Ready?" - she looked at Nate defiantly, with a satisfied smile on her face.

"You need to teach me this." - he was shaking his head in disbelief, still watching the door, when Lara closed it behind them.

"Okay, but if you don't mind, we'll do this another time" - she smiled. Immediately behind the door a steep flight of stairs led down. "We'd better not turn on the lights." - Lara whispered, and descended. Fortunately, security was not really taken care of, there were no cameras, no alarm. Who would break in here? There was nothing to steal. Lara slowed down as they reached the small booth where tickets could be normally bought. With the lamp she lit up the map hanging on the wall.

"Well, that's great" – Nate spoke out beside her. "It's a maze. How do we find what we're looking for?"

"Well." - Lara wondered too. "It's not that big."

"Where do we begin?" - Nate did a few slow steps towards the entrance, spying into the darkness. Lara was still looking to the description, it was useful it was translated into English too. Her finger followed one route on the printed map, then abruptly stopped at one section.

"Look at this!" - she said, and Nate came up behind her to see what she meant.

"What is this?" - he leaned closer to try to make out the description.

"It's called the dark part. There is absolutely no light inside, and one can only find their way by groping around with their hands." - Lara read the text in the light of the lamp. "Do you need anything better than this if you want to hide something from curious glances?" – she looked at him curiously.

"It's worth a try" - Nate said, and they went in that direction. Lara took a brochure, which also included a map of the labyrinth. After wandering for a few minutes, they arrived at the junction, which was marked on the map as the entrance. Thick curtains separated this section from the rest of the labyrinth, although now with the lights off it really made no difference. Nate pulled it aside and peered in. "After you." - he looked at Lara with a smile on his lips. Lara smiled back as she stepped through the opening.

"Well, this is not really promising so far." - Lara mused, as she scanned the empty walls with the lamp. There were no opening, no junctions, nothing.

"Use your imagination." - Nate replied from a few meters behind. "Imagine how interesting it would be if it was really dark, and you didn't see anything. You could only trust your hands to find your way through." - he was sauntering behind her. "Do you remember the last time we were trapped in a dark place like this?"

"It would be hard to forget. Only here there is no huge roller trying to kill us." - Lara proceeded slowly, examining every part of the wall. "The right side is yours" - even suggested to Nate.

"In the darkness everything is so different, more exciting." - he continued philosophically, while he also began to look at the wall, but they saw nothing on it. Uneven surfaces, the rock was roughly sanded. "The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars; Did wander darkling in the eternal space,; Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth; Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;; Morn came and went-and came, and brought no day." – Nate cited in a deep voice.

"And men forgot their passions in the dread; Of this their desolation; and all hearts; Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light" – Lara continued without thinking. "Impressive, Nate. Lord Byron. I didn't know you were so much into poetry. But rather try to find some sign that we're in the right place."

"You really are prosaic, to say the least." - Lara, however, was not listening because they reached a small junction. The first since they entered this part. The other branch, however, was closed by a door, on which a padlock was hanging.

"Hmm .." - Lara said. "Now this is something more interesting. The more they try to keep me out, the more I want to get in." - she smiled cheerfully.

"I love it when you say things like that." - Nate went over and looked at the padlock. "You or me?"

"The question is how much time we want to spend here." - Lara retorted jokingly. "Better I try, not necessarily for everyone to know that we're here." - After a few moments the door creaked open, Lara stepped in curiously. Apparently, this was an area still under excavation, racks, wooden crates and all kinds of equipment were everywhere. They walked forward cautiously not to ruin something. However, the flight came to a dead end, something more than interesting awaiting them on the opposite wall. The elongated recess opened in the wall, some kind of text engraved at the end of it. On the floor human bones were lying around, lots of skulls in a seemingly oddly sorted chaos. It seemed that someone had already dealt with the text because it was kind of frame around it, but otherwise the area looked intact. Planning every step in advance Lara went closer to the wall, careful not to step on anything. She raised the lamp, and narrowing her eyes she tried to make out the few faint words.

"I have to get closer to it to take photos." – she turned back to Nate, who stood there watching her. "It's something in a language I don't know. We'll need Bryce." – she took yet another step forward, carefully placing her foot.

"Watch out!" - Nate hissed up when something creaked under Lara's foot, loudly in the silence.

"I do watch out." - Lara replied somewhat irritably.

"Doesn't sound like it." - Nate retorted jokingly.

"You want to do it?" - Lara stopped and looked back at him in reprimand. "I give you the opportunity if you want."

"No, you don't" - Nate grinned. "You couldn't bear it if it was not you doing it."

Lara smiled back with delight. "You know me too well already."

Lara finally made the short trip back, and eagerly studied the photo on the PDA screen. Nate came up beside her and looked at the picture.

"We must leave so I can send this to Bryce. There's no signal down here." - Lara started towards the entrance, when Nate suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Show it to me just one more time." – he took the device from her, and frowning he started to study it. "Of course." – he said after a short while.

"Don't tell me you can read it." - Lara drew up her eyebrows in surprise.

"Why? Would it be so incredible that I know something you don't?" - Nate grinned. "Believe it or not, I've read a few books in my life."

"Then let me hear it." - Lara folded her arms on her chest, watching him curiously.

"It's written here: face the chosen ones, and you'll know the answer." – he said after a moment, as if the solution was completely simple. Lara looked at him doubtfully, slowly walking back to him.

"Are you sure? That doesn't make any sense." - she countered as if not believing him.

"After all this time, you really should trust me a little bit." - Nate handed her the PDA, and waited for her answer.

"Well." - Lara turned and began thoughtfully ambling up and down. "Suppose that this is really written here." - almost automatically she sat down on a crate, and started thinking, watching the display. "But what the hell does that mean?"

"In any case, we should come to a solution faster than ending up like these guys here." - Nate reached down and picked up a skull from the ground, and began to look at it with the lamp. He gently brushed off the dust from it.

"The chosen ones ..." - Lara mused. "Since we don't know that we're looking for, it's kind of hard to figure out who the chosen ones are."

"If we are already in Budapest, it must have something to do with the country." - Nate suggested with the skull in his hand while he sat on another crate opposite Lara.

"That didn't help so much." - Lara sat back and her fingers started drumming on her chin.

"Then we ask a witness." - Nate grinned, then held up the skull flashing the lamp from the below it so that light came out ghostly through the eye holes.

"Oh Nate, you got to be kidding me." - Lara shrugged wearily.

"And you're too serious, don't you think?" - Nate retorted. "Enjoy life" – he moved the skull even closer to Lara, then began turn the torch on and off making the skull look even more supernatural.

"At least we're getting somewhere with that, not like with your jokes." - Lara retorted impatiently, but as she looked up, she suddenly glimpsed something. She sprang from her seat and snatched the skull from his hand, staring at it in amazement. "Oh my God, I don't believe it" – Lara's eyes widened watching the skull. "Only you can be so lucky." - she said, smiling with satisfaction.


	9. Chapter 9

"Look at this" - Lara's held out the skull in front of Nate, who had walked beside her. She lit it again with the flashlight so that Nate could see too what Lara had seen previously. One word was burnt on the inside of the skull. "This can't be a coincidence."

"He was the chosen one? Not a really attractive offer." - Nate joked, trying to read the word.

"Can you read that?" - Lara's voice sounded excited. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned closer.

"Let me see." - Nate took the skull from her. "There must be more of them here because this alone makes no sense. In the message they talked about the chosen ones, not only one of them."

Lara looked around with the lamp in her hand. There were lots of skulls lying around. "That's great. This will be good fun." - she bent down and picked up one, but nothing was in it. Nate put aside the one with the word in it, and began to search.

"I've found another one." - he exclaimed, Lara immediately ran over to him. "But this one has the same word in it as well." – he said a little more moderate.

"What does it mean?" – Lara looked at him asking.

"It means _down there._" – Nate put the second skull next to the previous one on the rack. For several minutes they were rummaging the bones, carefully stepping around not to ruin something. The dust stirred up, Lara began to cough. Finally, seven skulls were found, which all had the same word in them, and Lara started to get uncertain.

"Something's not right. We don't get anywhere with this." - Lara plopped down on the ground and watched the skulls lined up on the box in front of them. Their empty eyes looked back at her. Nate sat down beside her. "Are you sure about the words?" – she asked again, although she did not know why. Even she could see that it was the same everywhere without understanding its meaning.

"Maybe we should take a deep breath. It always helped me." - Nate suggested.

"We don't really have much time. Thus, I'm surprised no one has found us so far as they also have the map."

"But not everyone is as brilliant as you are." – Nate put a friendly arm around Lara's shoulder, who relaxed for a moment, rubbed her face and drew in a deep breath.

"Have we looked at every of them?" - she asked wearily. Nate ran his eyes around the room.

"Wait a moment." – he said in amazement. "There are still a couple of pieces." - Nate lifted from the ground, went over there and picked up the skulls from the dust, one after the other. Finally, with another one in his hands he sat to Lara's side. "You won't be happy, but this one is also the same." - Nate put the newly acquired piece next to the others. They both just sat there, staring fixedly at the empty glances lined up in front of them, as if they did so, the skulls would start talking, and tell them the solution.

"Something must be there that differentiates them." - Lara mused aloud, taking one skull in her hand again. She turned it around, looking at it from all sides. She took the torch, and once again lit the inscription on the inside. Leaning very close to the empty eyes holes, she noticed something. Barely noticeably, but as if a letter had been under the word. "I think there is a letter, or am I just imagining things?" - Nate looked, when Lara held the head in front of him.

"Well, it is possible." – he quickly picked up another one, and looked at it as well. That one also had something. Barely to be seen, but it was definitely there. Becoming more and more excited they looked at all of them, while Lara wrote the letters they could make out on a piece of paper. Eight of them were finally in front of them on the page, in no particular order.

"At least it's a step forward." – Lara let out a deep sigh. "Now the only question is what to do with it."

"Give a little time, I'll try to put it together." - Nate took the sheet from her and began organise the letter in different orders. Lara watched him for a while, but then again she pulled the description of the maze out of her pocket to find out what the easiest way was to get out. While studying the paper, Nate looked up curiously, what she was doing. Suddenly, something caught his eye at one end of the map. "Is that a well?" – without any explanation he snatched the map out of Lara's hand.

"Yes, I think so, though now there is not much of a chance for me to see it." - Lara retorted angrily.

"Of course." - Nate let go of the map, which fell to the ground, then nervously began to scribble again. "This is the solution."

"A well?" - Lara asked back in surprise. "That's just four letters."

"Sure, but that's another language." - Nate smiled with satisfaction, then stood up and pulled Lara up from the ground. "Let's go and look at this well."

"I'm very impressed, Nate." - Lara said approvingly. "You still can surprise me. Poems, ancient languages, what else do you have?"

"I told you to just trust me a little bit." - Nate grinned cheerfully. "What do I get for the solution?" – he looked at Lara defiantly, standing directly in front of her.

Pouting her lips Lara approached, then leaned in close. "Later, Nate. Later." - she finally said, and pulled away with a smile. "Let's find that well now."

...

Nate looked down in the depth, which revealed in front of their eyes. In the light of the small lamp the bottom could not be seen at all. They could not be sure what was down there. For a moment they exchanged asking glances, but then Lara shrugged.

"I think one of us has to get down there." – Lara looked at him. The well was really narrow, darkness swallowed the bottom of it.

"I guess that means it's going to be you" – Nate supported his arms on the edge of the well, trying to gauge their possibilities.

"Only because for you it would be too narrow. I don't want you to get stuck in there" – Lara took off her bag pack, not even waiting for Nate's answer. She took the rope she found at the excavation site earlier and fixed it around her waist.

"Okay, you won" – Nate agreed. "I will throw your things down when you reach the bottom. At least you don't need to carry them."

"You need to hold the rope for me" – Lara said as she did not find any place to fix the other end to. Nate took it from her, propped his legs against the side of the well while Lara climbed over it.

"Be careful" – Nate looked at her smiling.

"I will" – Lara answered and disappeared in the darkness, Nate releasing the rope as she was getting deeper. The air was sticky, the more she advanced the more exhausting it got to breathe. "Slowly" – she shouted when her feet slipped on the wet stones. Her voices echoed heavily in the narrow tube.

"Are you getting somewhere?" – she heard Nate's voice from above. It was a strange conversation without seeing each other. "There is not much left of the rope."

"I guess so" – Lara plopped into knee high water as she reached the ground. Taking out her lamp, she looked around, but the passage that opened in front of her was at least as dark as the well itself. Dirty, black water surrounded her, nasty smell filled the place as if the water here was hundreds of years old. "Probably it's better if you keep my bag up there, everything is really wet here."

"Just be quick, it's getting boring up here" – Nate joked.

"Patience, I need to see what's hiding here. I'll be back in a few" – Lara's voice then died away as she entered the passage. Only silent echoes reached Nate, who was staring down to her though could not really see anything.

At least I hope we are looking on the right spot – Lara thought to herself while trying to advance in the muddy water. Maybe I should have let Nate do this – she smiled to herself, but she was sure she would be going crazy up there waiting. The water reflected the light of her lamp, throwing eerie shadows on the wall. The ceiling was so low, Lara had to lower her head and was not able to walk straightened up. The passage suddenly came to a T junction. Lara frowned, but then turned right. Right is always the first choice to try, she thought easily. She did not walk but ten meters when the passage came to an end. There was a massive wall in front of her, closing the way.

"Damn it" – Lara said angrily, and turned to walk back to the junction when something grabbed her attention. One stone was hanging out of the wall more than the others. She touched it, it was slightly moving under her hand as if it had not been fix in its place. Her fingers ran over it, looking for a way to get it out. She seized it, finally pulling with all her strength when the stone released and she almost fell back into the water by the momentum. The small lamp she was holding in her mouth to be able to use both hands, fell into the water, and darkness covered her once more for a moment.

With disgust on her face, she reached into the water to pick up the lamp again. Raising it high, she pointed it to the stone. She could only use one hand as after this accident she did not want to take it into her mouth anymore.

"Nice" – she thought seeing the carved words on the backside of the stone she pulled out. "I hope Nate can read this one as well" – she mused aloud. Just to be sure, she snatched her PDA from her pocket and took a quick photo of the sentence. The flash light filled the small opening for a split of a second. With the stone in her hand she started back towards the well.

"I think I found something" – she shouted to Nate whose face appeared in the opening. "I fix it on the rope, pull it up."

"All right" – he started to pull the rope, the stone was moving up along the wall. Lara looked up, following it with her eyes until it disappeared when Nate reached it. The rope fell back and Lara just wanted to catch it to climb out when it suddenly went lose and landed in front of her feet. She raised her brows in surprise and just wanted to shout something at Nate when she heard the voices from above.

"Nice to see you again" – the deep male voice uttered maliciously. "Where is the woman?"

"What woman?" – Nate answered, real surprise in his voice. Lara could hear that he moved away from the well, probably trying to distract attention from it. She fell silent, just listening to the conversation. Having no chance to interfere, her only possibility was to avoid being noticed and help Nate somehow.

"Don't play stupid" – the man murmured. There were steps to be heard, surely several people invaded the place. The clicks of the guns were loud in the silence. Lara could imagine Nate standing there with hands up in the air.

"Oh.. you mean her.. " – he laughed happily. "Now I remember... she was quite something, right guys?" – he kept joking lightly, and Lara rolled her eyes down in the darkness.

"Stop wasting our time. Where is she?" – the deep voice asked again.

"Come on.. I'm not an idiot. I got rid of her after I found out where I need to search. Do you think I would share this loot with anyone?" – he said. Lara could imagine that cocky grimace on his face, but was grateful to him for trying to protect her. Nate knew as well that their only chance was if Lara was not caught. The possibility that they could break out again was very small.

There was silence up there for a while, then there were steps, and Lara could only guess that the men grabbed Nate.

"Hey" – she heard his protest, but then only groans and German words were flying around until the whole place went utterly silent again. Lara was listening for a while, but no one came back anymore.

"That's bloody wonderful" – she muttered under her breath. "Now how am I going to get out of here?" – she sighed, holding both ends of the rope in her hands and knew there was no chance she could leave the same way she got down.

Knowing that they took Nate with them, there was no time to contemplate. She had to figure out something. There was no way she could even climb up the slippery wall, she started back into the passage. How the hell would she ever find Nate again? Not to mention if she ever got out of this damn well. But the water had to come from somewhere, she was thinking and hoped for the best. She had to be faster than them, knowing their enemies got hold of the stone with the message on it. Lara could only hope, Nate would be able to keep the translation back from them long enough.

At the T junction she turned left this time, but very soon she already glimpsed the end of the corridor in the light of the lamp. Lara came to a halt, but then decided to inspect the place a little bit more. On the walls and the ceiling there was no sign of the water coming in anywhere, but a well must have a connection to a water source and being close to the Danube, it must have been the river. Ambling forward, Lara looked around, moving the light around her. Her boots disappeared in the dark water, she could not really see the bottom. She was almost at the end, when suddenly she lost the ground below her feet and went under. In surprise she swallowed some of the dirty water, kicking herself back to the surface, grasping for air.

"What the hell…?" – she was wondering while she realised that there was a hole she stepped into, but could not see it in the black water before. Having no other choice, she made a decision. She took a deep breath and started to swim downwards, holding the lamp in front of her. It was almost impossible to see anything, dirt stirred up, blocking her sight. She totally lost her sense of direction or time, trying to hold her breath even longer. The noise became louder, the swift of the water stronger. Suddenly some current caught her, pulling her into the darkness and she lost the lamp. All she could feel was the strength of the water dragging her away, and she kicked against it with all her power. It was more instinctive than really knowing where the surface could be. Her lungs were crying for oxygen, she was not really controlling her moves anymore. Then all of a sudden she broke to the surface, grasping for air before her brain could understand what was happening. It took her several minutes to realise that she was floating in the middle of the river, just below the Castle Hill. Collecting her last strength she started to swim towards the shore, pulling herself out to the riverside. The stones were hard under her body, but she was grateful to be out of the water.

"I hope when they said this PDA was waterproof, they really meant it" – she was still gasping, her hands groping for the device in her pocket. She had to find Nate and understand the message on the stone before it was too late.


	10. Chapter 10

Nate found himself on a chair, sitting in the middle of a shabby room. No furniture, old paint, some old papers lying around in the corners. Too many shabby rooms around here, he thought to himself resignedly. His hands were not moving, he had to realise they were tied behind his back again and he could not move from the chair. Damn it, he thought. This could not be that he woke up every other day tied to a chair or a bed. He strained, but he could not even stir, except moving the chair along a few centimetres. There were hardly any light coming through the only dirty window.

Nate raised his head when he heard noise from outside and the handle moved down. Nate froze, not being able to do anything else but wait and see what would happen. He held his breath. The steps were barely audible, the door opened with a silent creak, and to his greatest surprise Lara sneaked into the room.

"Lara" – he was wondering, but she held a finger in front of her lips to hush him.

Lara came closer, carefully, listening if anyone was approaching. She was wearing the same tight clothes as in the labyrinth before. Nate raised a brow when she stepped to him, but instead of freeing him, she was just staring at him with curious eyes, looking very much interested in what she was seeing. She lightly brushed her finger over his face, circling it over to the other side.

"What are you doing?" – Nate whispered in amazement, not being able to resist looking at her body. In any other situation he would have found the whole thing amazingly arousing, but not now… not when there were armed men outside waiting to beat the translation out of him.

"I thought you were waiting for this second chance" – she all but purred, and Nate could not believe his ears. Of course he wished for this, but how could she think of this right now? Lara walked around him, Nate had to turn his head to be able to follow her. Good Lord, she had curves.

"We need to get out of here" – Nate tried to convince her with less and less enthusiasm when Lara stepped in front of him, straddling him just like that night in his apartment. He had never wished more in his life for being able to move his hands.

"You still want to leave?" – she asked him, playing with the ring hanging on his chest.

"I'm not sure" – he stuttered, swallowing hard when her fingers skimmed through his hair.

"I like it when you can't resist" – she continued in a tempting voice. "Let's finish what we started" – her lips came closer to him, almost touching his…

SPLASH … the cold water dragged him out of his reverie so suddenly that for a moment Nate did not know who he was. Strangely enough he was sitting on the chair, in the middle of the shabby room just as in his dreams. Only Lara was missing. Instead there was a guy standing in front of him with a bucket in his hand that was now empty. The cold water was dropping from his hair into his face, and Nate was angrily spitting it out, looking confused at his attacker.

The door opened, just like before, slowly, creaking, and a woman stepped into the room. This is almost creepy, Nate thought as he looked up, but it was not Lara. Without the big hat, he almost did not recognise her, but it was the same woman from the castle. She was wearing clothes like in a Hollywood movie, moving elegantly through the room, not taking her eyes off him.

"I'm so glad we meet again" – she started to talk after a while. "Somehow I knew in the castle it wouldn't be the last time I see you."

"You shouldn't have bothered so much to get my attention" – Nate shook his head to get rid of the water that was still dropping in his face.

"Oh, it didn't put me to any inconveniences" – she continued the polite conversation. "You don't seem to be surprised."

Nate's eyes scanned her figure. The woman looked almost strange in these surroundings. She did not fit into the picture. Nate felt like being in the wrong movie, being still a bit too confused to think clear.

"There is always a bad guy… sorry, woman" – he corrected himself quickly.

"I like you" – the woman walked over to him, her fingers slightly touching his face just like Lara's in his dream before. This is now really spooky, Nate thought, trying to pull away. Now he really hoped she would not sit in his lap. That would be just great, he almost had to laugh at the idea. "It would be a pity if I had to kill you."

"What should I say? I wouldn't cherish the idea either" – Nate joked lightly.

"Good" – fortunately she did not continue and stepped away from him again. Nate could not see her for a while as she was standing behind him. "Now that we agreed on this, I would like you to help me a little bit" – he could only hear her voice, but he did not like how it sounded. Cold, calculated, very much unemotional. Now that there was only the voice, Nate suddenly found her icy.

"I hope you don't need fashion tips because I'm not really good with that" – he mused, waiting for her to appear in front of him again.

"Oh, don't worry" – she laughed casually, but without any lightness. "I have some better fitting tasks for you" – finally she walked over and stopped in front of him. "Where is the woman?" – she asked coldly, leaning forward a bit to look into his eyes.

"I don't get it" – Nate kept talking coolly. "Why is everyone asking about her? Am I not good enough?"

"I definitely prefer your company, but I don't like surprises. So where is she?" – she pulled out a small blade and pushed it against his neck.

"Hey" – Nate drew back as much as he could. "Be careful with that."

"I only ask you once more. Where is she?" – she pressed it more against his skin, almost cutting into it.

"I've already told your men that she left. I don't share with anyone" – Nate held her gaze, and she lowered the knife after a few seconds.

"I don't believe you, but for a little while I still need your help." – she turned to leave. "I know Lara Croft never backs out of anything. Keep your eyes open" – she ordered the armed man, who stayed in the room with Nate.

Nate lowered his head, trying to move his numb limbs a bit, watching the guy at the door from the corner of his eyes in the meantime. Who the hell was this woman, he contemplated. And how did she know Lara? No matter how he tried, he had to realise that there was no chance he could have freed himself. Suddenly Lara came to his mind. It may not have been the best idea to throw the rope down, but at the moment he had not thought about it. Could she get out? Damn it, he thought with a worried expression on his face. He needed to get out of here and find her before it was too late. His guard trained his gun on him when Nate struggle to break free on the chair, but then he was only smiling maliciously, seeing he could not reach anything with it. Nate almost wanted to groan out in his frustration when he raised his head and glimpsed something he never would have imagined to see. For a moment he thought he was fantasizing again.

The hazel eyes appeared in the window just for a moment before Lara hid behind the wall again. This one glance was enough for Nate to understand what he had to do.

"You there" – Nate spoke to the guard, who raised his head, but did not move. "I need some water" – Nate looked at him, but the guy was just standing there as if not understanding what he had said. "Come on, Ms Ice queen surely wouldn't be happy if you let me die here."

The guard only muttered under his breath, but did not react at all.

"Then at least open the window a bit to get in some fresh air" – Nate tried his luck again. "What are you afraid of? That I fly away?"

"Okay, just shut up" – the guy murmured and started towards the window, not taking his eyes off Nate. Light breeze entered the room when he opened one half of the window. The next thing the guy felt was a blow against the back of his neck and he dropped to the ground. Nate raised his head and Lara was standing right there, smiling satisfied.

"How good you already understand me without words" – she whispered in a low voice. "Happy to see me?"

"If you finally free me from this chair, then I am" – Nate eagerly wiggled on the chair.

"Quiet!" – Lara froze when she heard some noise, but the steps died away again without coming closer.

"I'm glad you made it out." – he looked at her. "Sorry about the rope."

"Don't think about it" – she smiled at him, stopping in front of him for a moment what made Nate raise a brow. This is definitely weird, he mused inwardly, looking at her standing there.

"Lara, we don't have time for this now. You need to untie me now" – he emphasized that last word and Lara tilted her head slightly, watching him with narrowed eyes before stepping behind him.

"Of course I untie you. What were you thinking?" – she started messing with the ropes.

"Nothing" – Nate swallowed, being glad she could not see his face blushing slightly.

"Wait, I need to find a knife." – Lara jumped over to the guard lying on the floor motionless. She moved fast, efficient, searching the guy's pockets, and finally pulling out a small pocket-knife. Nate could feel her stopping for a fraction of a second every time they heard a whisper from the other side of the door.

"We need to get out of here" – he said rubbing his wrist when Lara finally cut the ropes and he could stand up again. "Do you have an idea where the stone could be?" – he looked at her.

"What do you think? I concentrated on getting you out of here" – Lara walked back to the guard again, taking away anything useful from him. Nate took the gun out of her hand, checking the magazine. "Hey, just because I'm a woman, it doesn't mean you can have the weapon" – she chafed.

"Sorry, I've been taught to take care of women" – he grinned at her, walking to the door to listen if there was anyone outside.

"I told you the first time I don't need you to save me. Let's not forget after all who saved who just now" – she stood with hands on her hips.

"Are you going to argue about this now or should we try to get out of here?" – Lara rolled her eyes and waved a hand at him. She walked over to him, trying to forget about her annoyance. Even if she knew they would not necessarily need the stone, she wanted her bag back. "I go first and when I tell you it's safe, you'll follow" – Nate reached for the handle and opened the door to a crack. Yeah, sure, she thought amused, but let it be.

The corridor looked empty, the greyish walls were in big need of a new paint. The first rays of the rising sun gave it a nice contrast though. One half of the window at the end was covered with some old newspaper, but the other side let in the faint light. Nate stepped back when an angry looking guy appeared at the other end, but he did not walk towards them. When he was out of sight again Nate sneaked out and silently tiptoed to the next doorway. Waving to Lara, he signalised she could join.

Lara flatted to the wall right behind Nate, trying to gauge the situation. In the next hall there were at least six guys lingering around, there was no way they could take them all out with one gun.

"What do you think of that door?" – Lara whispered, pointing to a shabby looking, brown door on the far side. It was obvious that it was not the way out, but she had something else on her mind.

"I don't think we can get out there. Maybe we should try to find another way" – Nate suggested.

"There's no other way. I came through the window and I can tell you we are cornered."

"We need the element of surprise" – Nate peered out again.

"I think I can help you with that" – Lara smiled, and without making a sound she opened the door where they were standing at.

"Wait, what are you doing?" – Nate jabbered softly, looking bewildered. "You don't even have a gun."

"This has never caused a problem. Just make your move when you think it's time. You'll know exactly when this will be." – Lara disappeared behind the door, leaving the more than surprised Nate alone. Nate was waiting and waiting what seemed like eternity, but nothing happened. He started to think something went wrong when the door next to him opened again. "What are you …?"

"Shh" – Lara pressed a finger to his mouth. "I changed my mind and found a better way" – she pulled him into the room, closing the door silently. "I was planning to take out these guys, but realised it was not needed. It's more to our advantage if they don't even find out for a while that we are gone" – she explained while opening the window on the other side. "We're going to climb over there" – she pointed out.

"Are you serious?" – Nate frowned after looking out from behind her. The ledge running around the building was so thin he doubted half of his feet would fit on them. But it was undeniably leading to the fire escape about twenty meters away from them.

"Are you afraid of heights?" – Lara teased him a bit, seeing the four-storey depths below them.

"I thought I'd already proved the opposite to you" – he smiled at her. "Let's go."

"That's how I like you" – Lara obviously enjoyed the situation. The more dangerous, the better. Nate liked this about her far too much. All her crazy little ideas that made him wonder whether they survived the next minutes, but so far they had. He watched her climb out of the window, not really minding the view her back side offered him. He definitely needed to see more of this, he decided smiling and climbed after her.

He was right, the ledge was thin indeed. He could hardly steady his heels on it. Flattening against the wall with his back, he tried to follow Lara, who seemed to be in her element.

"Could you read the carving on the stone?" – she asked whispering, concentrating on her next move.

"I didn't really have a chance" – he stopped for a moment to regain his balance after his left foot almost slipped off. God, he thought. This woman was going to kill him one day. He could only hope some neighbours would not spot them from the opposite house and call the police that two crazy people were trying to kill themselves. Would be a funny thought to be caught by the local police.

"So we have no idea where we need to go from here?" – Lara's voice was as causal as ever. As if they were not killing themselves if they made a wrong move.

"I would say we need to get down from here in one piece" – he joked, knowing perfectly she did not mean that.

"Very funny" – Lara stopped at a window and carefully leaned to the side a bit to peer in. If there was someone inside, it could be some problem to shimmy to the other side of the window without being noticed. Nate got closer, stopping almost at her side. Below them a motorbike passed by, but no one noticed them so far. Being early morning, the traffic was very low. "I think we are lucky" – she whispered, leaning even further. Nate instinctively grabbed her hand, though there was not a big chance he could hold her if she fell.

As there was only old furniture piled up in the corners in the room, Lara moved on slowly and Nate let go of her hand again.

"Have I told you I never liked morning exercises?" – Nate sighed in relief when they finally climbed onto the fire escape.

"Maybe I could change your mind one day" – she winked at him and without waiting for a reply, she started to climb up to the next floor, leaving Nate wonder what she meant.

"You need to explain.." – he followed her, but Lara hushed him again. They were standing in front of a window and glimpsed the elegant woman sitting with her back towards them, holding the stone in her hands.


	11. Chapter 11

"I think that is mine" – Lara stepped in through the window, Nate training the gun on the woman, who looked fairly surprised. Slowly, she let her hands down, placing the stone on the desk in front of her, eyeing them suspiciously. As if thinking about calling out for someone, but then she seemed to have changed her mind.

"Lara Croft, what a pleasure to meet you" – she said in a measured voice. Tilting her head a bit to the side, she gauged her from head to toe. A glint of jealousy appeared in her eyes for a fraction of a second, but it was gone just as quickly again.

"Give her the stone" – Nate cut in. He moved to the side, not taking his eyes off the woman. She looked dangerous even if she was just sitting without saying much. Her hands were lying on the arm-rests, her legs crossed, her cold blue eyes fixed on Lara.

"Please, be my guest" – she leaned back, offering the stone to them. Lara sensed a trap, her instincts on high alert. "You can run, but you can't hide from me. Can't you see I always find you?" – she laughed out coldly.

"That's enough of civilities" – Nate stepped closer, reached out for the stone. A few tense seconds later he lifted it, the woman watching his every move distantly. After having a quick glance at the patterns on the backside, Nate backed away. Step by step retreating to where Lara was standing. "Time to leave?" – he looked at her.

"Yeah" – she agreed, still fighting a silent battle with the woman on the other side of the desk. Nate had never seen her so concentrated, her face so tense. The woman's smile was like poison, her eyes like ice. Lara had no idea why she had not called for help. She was sure there were plenty of her men around. There would be time to think about this later, she decided. When she eventually glanced to the side, she glimpsed her bag in the corner behind the door. Taking a step to the side, she lowered to pick it up. The woman moved so fast, it almost looked unreal. The morning sun glinted in the blade of the knife and Lara groaned out loud when she felt the pain in her leg.

Not wanting the waste any more time, Nate grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room. Lara limped after him as fast as she could, every step causing pain running down her left leg. God, she hissed, grabbing the hilt of the knife that was planted in her thigh almost completely.

"Don't pull it out" – Nate caught her hand. "You only make it worse and we need to get out of here" – he looked around nervously, trying to decide where to go. "I'll help you" – he wrapped his arm around her waist to take the weight off her leg. Lara pressed a hand on her thigh, watching the knife with irritation. Pain was throbbing in her body, but she did not care.

"Take the left" – she urged him, and they were running as fast as they could, hearing the stomping footsteps of armed men coming closer with every second.

"Crap, why does it have to be the fourth floor?" – Nate looked down the stairs desperately when they finally reached the staircase. The whole building was echoing from angry shouting, running footsteps and clicks of guns being secured. "Can you walk?" – he measured her with worry in his eyes.

"Of course I can walk" – Lara answered impatiently. "Just go, don't worry about me."

Nate started strolling down, with his left hand around Lara, the gun held high in the other. They hardly stumbled down half a storey when a guy appeared in the doorway above them. Nate fired without hesitation. If the guy alarmed the others, they were lost.

"Just go on, I'll cover you" – Nate stayed a bit behind, keeping an eye on the floors above them, while Lara continued down, leaning on the banister. The old wood creaked under her weight, it was shaking heavily. Lara jumped down a few stairs to avoid a few steps, but landing was even worse. Her leg almost collapsed under her, but she managed to keep her balance at the end. Nate ran after her, but in the moment the door next to Lara opened. The guy was so surprised to see them that for a short moment he was not able to act. Nate grabbed his vest, pulling him right in. The punch into his face made him lose consciousness without having been able to utter a sound. He collapsed to the floor. Nate took his gun and handed it to Lara.

"Just to be sure" – he smiled at her, but quickly stepped to her to help her continue downwards. Nate kicked the door open that led to an inner courtyard. Three cars were standing in there, he ran to the first one. "Come on" – he gestured to Lara, but she hardly reached the car, when bullets started to rain on them from the upper windows. Without hesitation they jumped into the car, Nate starting the engine with a quick move, Lara lying on the backseat to avoid being shot. Armed men ran to the other two cars, chasing them down the road. The back window blew up into millions of tiny pieces when a bullet hit it. Lara held her arm in front of her face, trying to hold her balance as Nate was speeding down the narrow road. She felt like sitting on a rollercoaster without being tied in. The pieces of the secure glass covered her, she almost let her gun fall when the car bumped heavily, running over to the sidewalk when Nate had to avoid a biker coming against the direction.

"Try to do something" – Nate shouted to her, fully concentrating on not to get stuck somewhere in the traffic. A big truck sounded its horn at them when Nate aggressively pushed the car into the lane in front of it. The two black cars did not get lost. Lara sat up, trained her gun on one car, but did not come to shoot. The traffic light changed to red, and Nate pulled the wheel to the side. The car slipped out around the corner, the tires smoked and for a moment they both thought to crash against the house on the other side. Nate switched back, stepped on the gas, and the car pulled out of the curve. Lara crashed against the door behind her, groaning as she hit her neck. The wound of her leg started to bleed again, she was clenching her jaws together not to cry out loud.

"God damn it" – she cursed, biting her lips as the knife was still standing out of her thigh. Angrily she growled, raised her gun and fired. The front tire of the black car behind them exploded, the driver could not hold it. It flipped around and with a huge crash, it smashed into a phone booth next to the road. The truck behind them could not brake anymore and bumped into it, throwing it around once more.

"Nice shot" – Nate grinned, watching the scene in the rear-view mirror. "Wow.." – he cried out in amazement when the next bullets hit the mirror, blowing it away. The car bumped into them from behind, Nate could hardly keep the wheel. Lara landed hard between the seats, squeezing her lips together to avoid screaming from the pain in her leg. Nate slammed his foot on the brake, suddenly making a U turn, and disappeared in a small road from sight. "Quickly" – he pulled the door open, grabbed Lara's arm and they ran towards the river leaving the ruined car behind. "We need to hide somewhere before they find us" – he jabbered, looking for a hideout.

"In there" – Lara pointed at an abandoned looking boat floating on the river in front of them. There was no time to think, they chasers would find the empty car within minutes. They hardly ducked when the men appeared on the road running on the riverside. The car slowed down, the men pulled down the windows, scanning the area for Lara and Nate.

"What do you say if we try to rest here a bit?" – Nate asked leaning back against the side of the boat when the car sped away in the other direction.

"I wouldn't say no" – Lara stretched out her legs in front of her, resting her head back against the wood. Her hand was pressed on her thigh, pain to be seen on her face.

"Let me look at this for you" – Nate turned to her. He stood up, peered into the cabin in front of them and was revealed to find it empty. He slowly pulled Lara to her feet and they quickly went inside, shutting the door behind them. "Let's go down there, looks safer" – Nate ushered her down the stairs leading to the hold. After he helped her sit down, he examined the knife. Sooner or later they had to get rid of it.

"There. In my bag" – Lara pointed on her backpack lying a bit further now as she threw it to the floor on the way. "I have a first aid kit in there."

"Okay" – Nate took the bag, opened the kit to find bandage and antiseptic. When he prepared everything, he took the hilt of the knife in one hand, and looked at her, right into her eyes. "Ready? I count back from three…" – he said almost cheerfully to distract her attention. "Three…..two"

"For heaven's sake" – Lara cried out, swallowing any other words that would not have sounded very lady-like. Nate threw the knife aside and pressed gauze on the wound that started to bleed right away. Not very heavily though. Luckily it did not hurt any arteries. "I can do this" – Lara took the bandage from him, pressing it down herself. It was quickly soaked with blood. Leaning back, she was panting to ease the pain.

"Is it better?" – Nate looked at her after a while, still kneeling beside her even though she took the gauze from him.

"I think so" – the bleeding was weaker now, Lara tossed the soaked material aside, took some new. "I'll survive" – she sent him a faint smile. "I've been through worse."

"Tell me about it" – he sat down to the floor, watching her a bit alarmed. "Let me dress it for you" – he offered and Lara did not protest. He cut the hole on her trousers a bit wider, washed off the wound, put fresh gauze on it. Finally he applied bandage around her thigh, circling it around a few time. "Looks like new" – he smiled at her.

"Thanks" – Lara found it strange that Nate kept his gaze on her. There was very little light inside, the boat was moving gently on the water.

"You need to sleep a bit. It's been a long night" – he reached out, stroking a curl of hair out of her face. "I'll look at the stone in the meantime and see if I come to solve the carvings on it."

"Take my PDA, maybe you need help from Bryce." – she held it towards him and Nate turned back to take it, sending her a grateful smile, then left her alone.

When Lara woke up, she had no idea how long she could have been sleeping. The hold around her was darker than before. She bolted up, suddenly feeling the pain in her leg again. Only in this moment she realised there was someone lying next to her, but to her relief it was only Nate. Lara found him cute, sleeping there, the stone lying beside him on the floor. On the piece of paper next to the stone there were only a few lines written in hasty hand-writing. Carefully, not to wake him, she reached out for it. Nate stirred, turned a bit on the hard floor, but did not open his eyes. Watching him, Lara leaned further. At the exact moment, when she was bending over him, Nate looked at her with a grin on his face. Grabbing her waist, he pulled her into a slow, awakening kiss and to her own surprise Lara got lost in it.

"Nate, we don't have time for this now." – she grasped for air when he let her go, but did not pull away.

"I know." – he grinned happily. "But I would have been a fool to miss out on this chance."

"Oh, you are really so…"

"Irresistible?" – it was impossible to be angry with him when he looked like that.

"I wanted to say impossible." – Lara sat back to the floor, carefully stretching her leg in front of her. "Did you find anything?"

"Wait a moment." – Nate turned to her, looking at the bandage on her leg. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course. Don't worry about me." – she offered a smile, but her stare moved to the piece of paper again.

"You know that curiosity kills the cat, right?" – Nate joked when he realised it. Just to tease her a bit, he folded the sheet so that she could not read the text on it.

"It never killed me." – she laughed out. "Now show me the paper!" – she reached out for it, but Nate did not let her.

"First tell me something." – he slid the paper into his pocket. "Do you know that woman?"

"I've never seen her in my life." – she shrugged, leaning back again. Nate made her think. The woman had said she would always find them. But how? "There was a man at the party though…" – Lara was contemplating. "He looked so familiar to me, but I don't know where I know him from. I keep thinking and I can't figure it out."

"A man? Which man?"

"He arrived right after this woman when we were standing at the balcony. Beard, hair combed back. Remember him?"

"Do you think they work together?"

"I'm not sure. There's no sign of him now." – there was a few minutes of silence, they listened to the sound of the waving water tossing the boat gently.

"Isn't this like in the jungle?" – Nate asked as they were lying there next to each other quietly. It made him remember that night they had spent handcuffed together in the wild. It seemed like ages ago, tough only a few months had passed. Lara's hand slid down to the bandage on her leg, carefully touching it with her fingers.

"Only the ties are missing." – she mused, smiling. "I wanted to kick you so much after that night."

"Oh come on. Admit it that you liked it." – he looked at her from the corner of his eyes and saw the light curve of her lips.

"I guess you don't find many women who would say that. Most of them don't like danger, bullets flying at them, crawling in dark tombs."

"No, they usually don't." – he agreed. That's why it was so different with her. He didn't have to explain, he didn't have to meet reproaching eyes how he got almost killed again.

"I'm sorry about last time. It was a nice date after all." – Lara turned her head towards him, those brown eyes looking at him sincerely. If she knew how sorry he had been. But the time would come to finish what they started and he could hardly wait.

"I think I have the text." – he quickly changed the topic. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed the piece of paper and this time he handed it to her.

"Where the river turns, there you find him buried, the greatest of all." – Lara read the single line written on it with his hand-writing. "The greatest of all….hmm.." – she let down the paper to think about it. "Did you talk to Bryce?"

"Yes I did, but I let you think a bit." – he sent her a teasing smile.

"I hate you. Give me that PDA!" – she held her hand towards him, holding his gaze.

"No way" – he shook his head slowly, enjoying the situation. "Tell me where we are."

"What do you mean?" – she looked at him asking.

"It's a simple question. Where are we?"

"In Budapest, Hungary." – she said slowly, and Nate could see how the realization hit her. "Huns" – she said softly.

"The greatest of all…" – Nate repeated the message. He loved the way she looked. How that knowing smile appeared on her face, how her eyes started to sparkle, how she licked her lips.

"Attila." – she sat up in excitement. "Would that be true? The lost tomb of Attila? The greatest leader of all Huns?" – she let the taste of the words run around her mouth. "Where is it?" – she looked at him impatiently.

"What do you think?" – Nate grabbed a map that was lying beside him. He found it on the boat and now it proved to be very helpful. After unfolding it in front of them on the floor, he leaned over it. His finger followed down the main river of Hungary, the Danube. It entered the country from the west, the blue stripe continuing towards the east for a while, then with a sudden, almost right-angled turn it changed direction towards the south. Nate raised his head, looking at Lara. "I think this might be the answer to your question."

"I think I don't hate you that much anymore." – she smiled back at him. "Let's go." – Lara tried to stand up, but her leg did not obey her.

"Hey." – Nate held her back. "You need to rest."

"I don't want to rest." – she countered. "They've seen the stone, too. I want to be the first."

"I know." – he stroked her arm gently. "You've always wanted to be the first and you will be." – sitting back to the floor, he pulled her to him. "We just wait for the darkness to arrive. They could be back and spot us."

"Nate." – Lara tried to oppose, but she let him pull her down to the floor and place an arm around her belly.

"Just sleep a bit, and we'll start right away when it gets dark." – he felt her resistance, but the comfort he offered was welcomed. Lara slowly eased against him, drawing in a deep breath. There was silence again, and Nate knew Lara was thinking about the tomb. Not the treasures, but the traps and the victory of defeating them.


	12. Chapter 12

The small motorboat that Bryce arranged for them floated easily against the current, up the river. The reflections of the historical buildings mixed up with the little waves the boat left behind, appearing clearly again once the surface of the water calmed down. Lara stood behind the wheel, taking care to keep most of her weight on her healthy leg. Amazed by the view, she kept staring at the night lights until they were slowly left behind. When they got out of the city, darkness surrounded them, disturbed only by lonely houses every now and then.

"Nice view, isn't it?" – Nate stood beside her, running his eyes down her figure. When Lara glanced over to him, he quickly moved his stare to the riverside.

"Not bad at all." – Lara tried to hide the little smile that appeared on her face by the sight of his oh-so-innocent expression. She did not mind it. Nate had been there for her when she needed him, and the last days they had spent together had been more than interesting. So many crazy things. Turning her attention back to the river, she steered the boat a bit to the side. It was moving on quietly, the sound of its engine not more than a light moan in the dark.

"I've been thinking." – he sat down next to her, this time not even pretending he was watching the surroundings.

"Is that so?" – Lara raised a brow, curiosity not letting her ignore the comment. Knowing him a little… let's say a bit more than little, she was sure Nate had something naughty on his mind again. And naughty was not against her will at all. Thinking back, she had to admit that she liked everything they had gone through. Being almost blown up by a rocket launcher, jumping down from incredible heights, running away from mercenaries being handcuffed together… just a few highlights of their earlier encounter. Nate, asking her out on a date was something new though. The smile on her face grew a bit wider. Which guy she had known would have done that? In a situation when they shared every minute of the day and a hotel room.

"Yeah." – he interrupted her thoughts.

"Are you willing to tell me the results or was it just a comment without any further importance?" – she could not help looking at him. Realising he was enjoying himself, she sent him a resentful glance.

"Patience is a virtue, honey." – he grinned back at her. "You should practise it more often."

"Hmm…" – Lara rubbed her chin, pretending to think hard. "Let me see… if I remember well, the last guy who called me honey, landed in the water with a very surprised expression on his face. He even looked a lot like you."

"Are you trying to tell me, no one has ever called you honey?" – he leaned his arms on the side of the boat, easing back, the grin on his face becoming brighter with every second.

"Is that some kind of a must in a girl's life?" – she checked the depth meter, steered the boat a bit to the right again.

"Oh, definitely. Don't tell me those dull English gentlemen never tried to seduce you into something where they could called you honey." – he was dying to find out something about her past. They had never talked about such things before, but Nate had always been the curious type.

"Tell me what you've been thinking about." – she changed the topic quickly. The hell would she tell him about those few pathetic romances of her life. No way.

"Lara Croft. Always brilliant of getting out of traps." – he laughed out. Maybe it had not been a good idea anyway. Which guy was keen to know who had touched the woman he was interested in before? It was enough to know that touching her was definitely something he wanted to do again.

"Your traps are no challenge for me." – she offered a defiant smile, then turned her attention back to navigating.

"You and I…. and sandy beach. What do you think?" – he asked suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" – Lara frowned at him, thinking he was teasing her again.

"Holiday." – he grinned, seeing her face.

"Holiday?" – a confused expression appeared on her face.

"You know… that's the thing people do for relaxation. They travel somewhere nice, drink cocktails on the beach, lie in the sun, wear small bikinis… of course only the female half of them." – he wagged his brows at her when she looked at him, hearing the last comment. "Don't tell me you don't have a bikini."

"You're out of your mind." – she shook her head in disbelief. "We're one step away from finding the greatest tomb ever and you're thinking about holiday?"

"First of all… you always say that… every tomb is the greatest tomb for you. Second, I'm just trying to use the time while we get there. And last but not least… I was talking about afterwards. When we're done here."

Lara turned away, checked the gps and with a satisfied expression steered the boat towards the pier. "We're there." – she said, navigating the boat skilfully parallel to the dock. The quiet moan of the engine died.

"Where?" – he looked around a bit surprised. All he could see was darkness. Not a single house around that offered some light. The only thing shining bright was the castle ruin on the top of the hill above them.

"Take that bag and come with me." – she grabbed her backpack, quickly checked her equipment and jumped out of the boat.

"Beware Attila… Lara Croft is coming." – he muttered with a grin on his face. Good that Lara did not hear it.

...

"Show me that paper with the message again." – Lara stopped, waiting for him to catch up with her. Nate took the sheet out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Where the river turns, there you find him buried, the greatest of all." – she read it aloud again. Pointing the flashlight at the map, she checked it again. Her finger followed the line of the river. "Where could it be?" – she mused aloud.

"That castle up there looks quite a good guess to me." – Nate suggested, looking at the map over her shoulder.

"Maybe." – Lara read the message again and again. It was not very clear. "It's probably the best place to start with. I can't see the connection though. This castle was build much later, in the thirteenth century. What does this have to do with Attila?

"What if it was not a coincidence that it was built there?" – Nate sat down for a moment, stretching his legs in front of him.

"What do you mean?"- Lara sat opposite him, the map still in her hands.

"There are a few… how should I say… rumours about Attila."

"Yes, I know. No one knows exactly how he died and why. No one knows where they buried him." – Lara kept watching the map, moving her stare over to the message, then back to the map again.

"The legend says he was buried under the river, although no one could ever prove it was true. What I'm more interested in is whether the three coffins are true."

"Right. And this curiosity is not at all influenced by the fact that one of them is supposed to be made of gold." – Lara looked up, pointing the light at his face this time.

"Stop doing this." – he raised his hand in front of his face, but he could not hide the smirk that appeared. "According to the legend he was buried in three coffins. One made of iron, one of silver and a gold one."

"And you believe this? No one could ever prove that the Huns used any kind of metal for coffins. They were always made of wood."

"So this is what you are after? An old, rotten guy lying in a wooden coffin? That's a bit hard to swallow." – Nate knew Lara was more interested in the glory, but he was certain that finding a tomb with all kinds of treasures was far more striking than an empty one. Even to her.

"I want to be the first." – she repeated the infamous sentence Nate had heard so many times before.

"I can see you enjoyed the attention you received after finding Genghis Khan that you want to do it again." – he teased her a bit more, knowing how much she hated those formalities. He could still remember her face when she had been talking to all those boring experts in the hotel. He had to laugh.

Lara waved a hand at him, stood up and without any further comment started down the road that led to the castle, not willing to see his amused face. But no matter how much she tried, she could not be angry with him. She slowed down a bit when they arrived to a bigger road, carefully peering out to check they were still alone. Somehow she had the feeling they would not be so lucky, but could not see anyone around.

"Do you really believe they managed to make his grave under the rived? More than thousand-fivehundred years ago?" – Lara asked when she heard him behind her again.

"Why not? I've seen a few things no one else would believe."

"Then why the castle?" – Lara felt unsure. The message was so short, so ambiguous. The river. It could have been any rived. Why exactly the Danube?

"We need to find some clues. Where else could they be than up there?" – Nate walked a bit faster, taking care they were not ambushed. Somehow he did not like the silence. Only some bug was droning somewhere in the grass.

"I hope you are right." – she added softly.

"Trust me a little. Have you ever regretted it?" – he grinned at her.

"I rather don't answer that question." – she grinned back, and they started to climb up the steep road, leading to the castle.

...

The lights were on, but no one could be seen when they got to the gate. Lara ran her eyes over the walls, trying to find a way to get in. As she was walking along the wall, she heard a soft whistle. Sending Nate a frown, she walked back to him.

"What do you think about entering through the gate?" – he asked amused, opening one half of the gate that had obviously not been closed. The old iron-wooden door did not utter a squeak, when he squeezed his body through the opening.

"I don't like this." – Lara shook her hands, whispering softly in the silence. And after a few seconds she could see exactly why she did not like the situation. It was not the fact that people usually would not leave historical places open, it was rather the view that welcomed them inside. Instead of seeing an empty, dark courtyard, there were a lot of men running around. Not in a chaos, in a very much organised way. Nate grabbed her hand, and they crouched to a dark corner right away. "Dammit" – Lara cursed quietly.

"Seems that our friends managed to solve the message as well and have come to the same conclusion." – Nate was watching the scene intently, trying to find out who they were facing. Something made him certain they would see a very familiar face very soon.

"How convenient." – Lara took a pair of small binoculars out of her bag, and looked around. Where the blackness of the night was chased away by the huge reflectors, she glimpsed a man heavily gesticulate. She could not see his face. Moving the binoculars a bit, she noticed another face though she was expecting. "Your biggest fan is here." – she smiled, seeing the face of the woman with the cold blue eyes.

Nate took the binoculars from her. "She's quite good." – he whispered, recognizing her immediately. The big hat was missing from her head again, but she was at least as elegantly dressed as in the building they had seen her for the last time. Practically, but elegantly. "How did they get here so fast?" – he wondered.

"I told you we didn't need a rest." – she sounded a bit resentful, got the binoculars back from him. Though, inwardly she had to admit that she needed this little sleep. It wasn't a bad feeling to spend that few hours in his arms at all. If it did not cost her Attila's tomb now. Then she would strangle him together with his holiday idea.

"They don't seem to exactly know what they are doing." – he said, but Lara did not listen to him. Still examining the area, she moved the binoculars around. Nate could see how her brows rose in surprise. "What do you see?"

She did not answer right away. "That man…" – she whispered without looking at him.

"What man?" – Nate tried to see something, but they were too far away. All he could see with bare eyes were a few tiny people at the other side of the courtyard.

"The man I was talking about… he is here." – she let the binoculars down. And suddenly she knew why he looked so familiar. The face with the short beard, the greyish hair combed back. He had been sitting somewhere in the last row in Berlin. At the lecture about Genghis Khan. And then he had appeared at the auction as well. How can that be? "This means…." – she did not continue. "How did you learn about this map?" – she asked suddenly, looking confused at Nate.

"It was a hint… from Sully." – he answered, surprised expression on his face. Then he started to understand what she had meant.

"So you have no idea where it came from?" – it was all so clear now. And how many times would she make the same mistake again. Unbelievable.

"They knew it…." – he muttered and they were both just staring into the nothing.

"They had been already watching me, before you told me about the map. It's all a set-up. I can't believe it." – Lara sat down to the ground, trying to think things over.

"And what now?" – Nate asked after a while. "You want to give up? You let them win? Let them be the first?" – he knew this would make it.

"I've never said that." – Lara looked up, the determined smile back on her face. "That bitch will regret crossing my path."

"That's how I like you." – he winked at her, and let her go first. They sneaked along the walls, up the shabby stairs, keeping an eye on the men down there.

"What are they looking for?" – she wondered. "Do you think they know something we don't?"

"Don't think so." – flattening to the wall, they climbed to the second level, not really knowing what to look for. The darkness did not help the situation either. Would Lara be right that they only used them to get here? Why did he always get into such situations? The idea of the sandy beach was more and more attractive. He silently followed Lara when he suddenly glimpsed something from the corner of his eyes. Down at one end of the courtyards. "Water." – he mused aloud. "This had to be it."

"What did you say?" – Lara turned around, raising a brow when Nate grabbed her arm to pull her closer.

"I think I've just found the solution for you." – he pointed at the round structure rising out of the ground under them.

"Good thinking." – Lara smiled happily. "If we want water, what would be better than a well?" – they looked at each other, getting more and more excited.

"If we manage to sneak down there…" – he showed at the small ladder at the end of the wall. "… our elegant little friend can search for us forever."

"Exactly what I was thinking." – Lara turned around, silently getting closed to the ladder. After a short look-around, she checked if it was strong enough to keep her weight. Satisfied with the result, she started down, Nate waiting up there to follow her. When he saw that she almost reached the end, he went after her.

Lara's feet touched the ground, but she had no time to turn around anymore. Something cold pushed against her back and she instinctively put her hands up, a small, annoyed sigh leaving her lips.

"It's good to see you again, Lady Croft."


	13. Chapter 13

"Please join us, Mr Drake." – the woman talked in a cold and measured voice, holding a gun against Lara's head. Stepping a bit aside, she pulled Lara with her. Armed men arrived from all around, circling them from every side. Nate had no choice but to obey as odds were not in his favour.

"Who the hell are you?" – he asked in an annoyed voice. The woman seemed to enjoy the situation, especially after realising that tiny glint of worry in his eyes. That would come in handy, she thought to herself. Keeping someone at bay was much easier with emotional threats than with guns. His concerned look told her that Drake would not do anything till Lara was in danger.

"I'm glad we could all join the party in time." – she grabbed Lara's arm, pulling her even further away from Nate, while keeping her eyes on him. "I told you the woman wouldn't be far." – she talked to the man with the beard as if Lara was not there at all.

"I know you." – Lara narrowed her eyes on him, trying to remember his name, but it did not come back to her mind. Wasn't it a strange game they were playing? Standing on the three corners of a triangle, armed men around them and waiting for one of them to make a move.

The man with the beard ignored her comment, stepping closer, grabbing her backpack. Lara groaned under her breath when he forcefully seized it from her, but did not make any comment.

"Where's the tomb?" – the woman was still holding Lara, keeping her eyes on Drake. "Tell me and I let her live."

Nate saw that Lara was shaking her heard. Hardly noticeably, but he knew she was protesting. Just like that time in the jungle when Johansson had held a knife against her neck. How could the woman be so damn stubborn? But probably that was what he liked about her so much. Among all the other things. The gun was pushed against her neck a bit harder now, the metal pressed painfully into her skin, but there was not a trace of fear in her eyes. That he loved in her as well. She was just as reckless as Nate. The idea of that holiday and the sandy beach did not sound so bad at all at the moment. Nate dismissed the thoughts and tried to concentrate of the current problem. Calling the situation a problem was a slight understatement, but they had been in worse. Only this time he could not see the way out. No matter how much Lara sent him those sharp looks, he was left with no other choice but to do as he was told.

"I'll show you if you let her go." – if this was no déjà vu. It already had not worked with Johansson, but he simply had to try it. Cliché, but maybe it would work one day. That day was not now.

"I've always liked your sense of humour." – the woman laughed out grimly. Her perfect teeth were almost shining when the light of the reflectors fell on them. If Nate had not known better, he could have thought they had landed in the wrong movie again. Women, he thought. They were always worse to have as an enemy.

Lara tilted her head when the gun pushed even more against her neck. Nate could imagine the little red circle it would left behind when the woman would remove it.

"Okay, you won." – he threw his hands up in surrender. The bag he was holding landed on the dusty ground in front of him. Lara did not say a word, but he could see the anger in her eyes. No matter what, he simply could not bear the thought of anything happening to her. Hell, he had always been taught to be protective of women. Lara could probably kick his ass anytime, but he could not help feeling that way towards her. She was a woman after all. And what a woman.

"Tell me." – the blonde sounded impatient although her face showed no emotion.

"It's down there." – he gestured towards the well with his head, watching her intently. For the first time the woman's stare slowly moved from his face. First only her head, then the eyes followed as well. She licked her lips in satisfaction.

"Of course." – she whispered, pulling the gun a bit away from Lara's neck. Nate almost expected her to let Lara go, but of course she did not. The woman did not make a single move except for returning her stare from the well to Nate. "We're going down there." – she stated, nodding to her men to prepare.

The scene was changing with incredible pace, as if everyone had known his job without a single instruction. It looked like a well structured hive where everyone was destined to serve the queen. Reflectors were moved, the light was changing. Nate turned his head when one of them was directed right where he was standing. Suddenly it was like daylight. The equipment was moved closer, men were running around in an organised chaos.

"You stay here and keep your eyes open." – she ordered the man with the beard. Hearing her cold voice, there was no doubt left that she was the queen of the hive indeed.

"What are you doing?" – the man looked at her incredulously. "You want to go down there?" – they only whispered to each other, but Lara could hear every single word very clearly.

"Of course I'm going down there. What did you think?" – her laughter was cold as ice. Pushing the man aside, she tossed Lara a bit forward to the well. At her signal a man jumped to her and before Lara could have realised, he tied her hands together behind her back. "Please, Mr Drake." – she pointed at the well. "After you."

"You can't tie her hands." – he protested, but only earned a disdainful glance with it.

"Don't make me…." – she pushed the gun against Lara again. After staring at each other for a long minute, Nate slowly walked to the well. When he looked down, all he could see was darkness. Not being sure anymore if that was the way, he hesitated.

"Give me a flashlight and some rope at least." – her face remained hard, but she nodded. A man ran to get the things Nate requested. He lit a torch, threw it down. Although expecting that light would stay on, he heard some splashing sound. The torch landed in the water and the red flame died. "Maybe that's not the way." – he looked up a bit desperately to Lara.

"Then find the way!" – the woman ordered, pulling Lara back again. "I'll wait here with Lady Croft." – the cold smile appeared on her face again, and dragging Lara with her, they disappeared in a tent.

"Crap." – Nate wanted to say something worse, but he felt like he could not swear either. He had to act very quickly if he wanted to keep her safe.

...

The woman tossed Lara into the tent, making her fall onto the shabby camp bed. Knowing that she wanted to provoke her, Lara stayed cool. After struggling to a sitting position, she kept her eyes on the slim figure of the blond woman.

"We don't know if that is the way." – she said calmly. After a few seconds, the woman walked over to a chair and sat down elegantly. Crossing her legs, she kept staring at her as if trying to find out if she meant trouble.

"Lara Croft. After all this time we finally meet in person. I've heard a lot about you." – she said, ignoring her earlier comment.

"What do you want from me?" – if her hands were not tied, one could have thought they were having a nice conversation.

"I don't want anything from you. Or let's put it that way. It's not you who I want something from." – she remained mysterious, unpredictable.

"I don't get it." – she shifted a bit on the bed, trying to free her hands, but to no avail.

"I'm sure you do. Let's not play with each other any longer. You're an unnecessary obstacle in my plan. Nathan Drake should've come alone as I arranged it, but you were on the wrong place in the wrong moment. First I thought I should get rid of you, but then I changed my mind." – she kept her blue glance on her, measuring Lara from head to toe. Cold superiority was probably the best word to describe her expression. No, she did not underestimate Lara Croft. That would have been a mistake. "You proved to be a very useful companion for our friend."

"You can't send him down there. It could be a trap." – Lara tried to keep her voice measured and steady, but she was not sure, she managed.

The woman, who still hadn't told them her name, tilted her head to the side a bit, watching her intently. Lara did not like the look on her face. Her thin lips slowly curved into a cold smile. "Oh, this is so much better than I thought."

Lara did not understand anything. The woman's eyes glinted, satisfaction smoothed her concerned face.

"What do you mean?" – Lara looked at her questioningly.

"After all that I've heard of you, I wouldn't have thought this." – only a woman could have noticed those small signs and she had acknowledged them. Seeing Lara's confused face, she licked her lips in satisfaction before continuing. "You actually care about him, don't you?" – the smile grew wider, turning into a grin. Oh, how much she loved emotions. Lara did not have to answer. For the woman it was enough to see her eyes narrow and her body stiffen. "Don't worry, honey. If you're lucky, you can still see him for a short while." – she laughed out, and raised the gun at her again, when Lara wanted to move.

...

Nate took the rope and the flashlight and jumped into the cold water, right away going under. Spitting out the water, he came to the surface to take a last breath. How the hell did this woman find them so fast? Not that it would be important at the moment. Treading the water, he shivered. Damn it, Nate thought a bit irritated. It was colder than he expected, but there was no way back. Save the world, save the woman, play the hero. How did he always land in the middle of the biggest trouble?

Taking a deep breath, he dove. It was dark and cold, but he kept swimming downwards. He did not see anything, but he did not give up. After a minute of aimless swimming, Nate started thinking it had not been a good idea. When he had thought of swimming, he had not imagined it this way. He wanted palm trees, a beach, definitely some warmer water… much warmer and Lara. That was an important part of the plan. Maybe he would not mind the cold water if Lara was there to heat it up.

The lack of oxygen brought his thoughts back to reality. The light hardly showed the next one meter in front of him. He had to decide… and decide fast. Swim deeper and risk drowning or turn around and risk Lara's safety. It was not even surprising that the decision did not cause big trouble to make. Taking his last strength, he kept swimming. The wall of the well was made of little square stones. Nate grabbed one of them to pull himself deeper. There had to be something. If this was the way at all. Could it be that he made a huge mistake? What if the tomb was not here at all? His finger slipped of the next stone, his lungs started to ache for air. First only whispering in his head, then the sound grew louder and louder till it was screaming. No way… he turned, pushing himself away from the last stone with his foot. With the deep darkness all around he had no idea anymore how far the surface was. All he could see was black water around him.

He ordered himself not to take a deep breath that his brain cried for, knowing only the water would fill his lungs. Some loud rubble hit his ears, but he was unsure if he only hallucinated. It could have been only his own blood drumming in his ears demanding oxygen. He let the light go, the small light slowly disappearing under him in the darkness. Where was the damn surface, he cursed. Some strange feeling surrounded him, something pulling him, not letting him go. Nate kicked, but the current proved to be stronger. What the hell had happened? He was desperately fighting to come to the surface, but he lost control of his moves. The current swirled him around, he totally lost his sense of direction.

When he thought his life was over, suddenly his head came to the surface and he instinctively took a breath, took it deep. One moment he was still treading the water, the next he was lying on the wet, cold bottom of the well. He looked up, all confused. Where had all the water gone suddenly? The well was looming over him like a dark, empty tube, water dripping from the walls of it. This was the only sign that there had ever been water in it. Spitting out some water, he tried to look around. His hand bumped into the flashlight that was lying somewhere next to him. Turning it on, he moved it around, trying to find out what the hell had happened.

Groping around in the dark, he still could not see any sign of an opening, but the water being gone told him, he was undoubtedly in the right place.

"Hey, up there!" – he shouted, hoping someone was still there and they did not leave him to fate. Somehow he doubted it. A face appeared in the round hole far above his head. "Tell the ice-queen, I've found something."


	14. Chapter 14

Within minutes there was daylight in the narrow tube when the reflectors were directed down below. Nate held his hand in front of his eyes when he tried to look up to see what was happening. All he could make out was a figure appearing up there, slowly climbing over the edge of the well, starting down along the wet walls. He was expecting to see the womanly curves of Lara, but when the figure came closer, he realised in disappointment that it was a guy with a gun around his neck. Instinctively he put his hands up when the guy landed in front of him.

"It will get a little crowded." – he muttered quietly, moving a bit to the side. The armed guy whistled, the sound echoed strangely in the narrow pipe. This time it was unmistakably a woman descending the rope. Seeing the long ponytail flutter around her, Nate did not have to guess very long who it was. Lara kicked herself away from the wall, coming down with skilful moves. The rope almost screeched as it was running through the metal parts of the equipment.

It only took another minute and the blond woman was standing next to them as well. For her the manoeuvre took a bit longer, but she had looked almost as graceful descending as Lara had. Nate saved a mental note of appreciation.

"Tell me what you've found." – she stopped in the middle, taking care that Lara did not get too close to Drake. Nate could not help noticing how elegant she looked even in this nasty place. Elegant but cold. Ice-cold. Her blue eyes were so different from Lara's warm brown gaze that was sparkling somehow angry at the moment. That made her human… in comparison to the blonde's distant look that showed no emotion at all.

"Isn't it enough for you that the water is gone?" – Nate did not want to say it out loud that he had no idea what he had done for it. "Now just go and find the way." – he turned a bit, but the gun was pushed into his side.

"Nathan Drake… always seeing the bright side of life." – she shook her head slightly. "Victor was right about you."

"What?" – he raised a brow in surprise. "You know Sully?"

Lara turned her look from Nate to the woman, then back to him, not understanding anything. She remembered the name, had a vague image in front of her, but was not sure what to expect. Would he be behind all this?

"Victor knows too many women, I'm afraid. That can be dangerous sometimes." - she flashed a cold smile.

"I'll punch him for that." – Nate muttered under his breath. "Why can't he just shut up?"

"Don't be so resentful. It wasn't his fault. Men can't resist the temptation when pleasure is offered on a silver platter. They are simply too proud to accept that their irresistible charm may not be the only thing women want them for."

"Goddamn Casanova. Can't keep his mouth shut." – Nate cursed barely audibly.

"Showing off in front of women is a venial sin." – she laughed softly. "Forgivable, but stupid." – she tossed Lara forward, making her stumble a few steps. "Now find the way for me or this will be the last thing you do together." – she ordered in a sharp tone. "You've got five minutes."

Lara straightened, looked around. "What did you do to get rid of the water?" – she whispered to Nate, checking the walls in the meantime.

"I have no idea." – he admitted quietly. The blonde did not necessarily have to hear it. "I was trying to swim up, hardly had some air left. I must have kicked something."

At his words Lara moved her stare up, trying to see something in the strong light coming from up above. All she could see was the long shadows of a few stones that were standing out of the wall. "It might have been one of them." – she mused aloud. Grabbing the rope that was still hanging down, she moved it to the side where she suspected the solution.

"What are you doing?" – Nate looked at her incredulously.

"Just wait here, I'll try to check those stones."

"No tricks." – the blonde ordered, stepping a bit back to give her place. The armed guy trained the gun at Nate, who backed to the other side, holding up his hands.

Lara started to climb, pulling herself up seemingly without any effort. Nate had always admired her strength. Watching her carefully from below, he kept moving his stare between her and the guy with the gun. Would he have a chance to grab it before he could pull the trigger? Maybe now was the chance that Lara was more or less out of danger. He inched a bit closer, the guy stepped back to the wall, right beside the blonde woman.

"Maybe it's the other one." – Nate pointed to another stone, but only did so to distract attention. If the guy also looked up, he would try his luck. The woman could not be hard to overpower. Hitting women was not his thing, but if circumstances called for it, he would. He hoped he would not have to.

Trying to behave casually, he kept his hands up, watching Lara cautiously. Now, he decided, and was just about the jump at the guy, when the floor beneath his feet started to shake. He lost his balance, struggling to stay on his feet, when the half of the round floor where he was standing, simply disappeared.

"Crap" – he cried out, falling unstoppably into the darkness below.

"Nate? You're okay?" – he heard Lara's voice above him a few seconds later. Nate had no idea where he landed, but it was hard. Damn hard. Rubbing the small of his back, he struggled to his feet, but could not see anything around him. Just when he wanted to answer, a torch landed beside him, wrapping the place in an eerie yellowish light.

"What the hell is this?" – he wondered, raising the torch above his head to see a bit better. It looked like an extension of the well, only in a horizontal way. The walls were round, covered by roughly carved stones from every side. It looked old… very old indeed. Water was dripping from the ceiling, showing him unmistakably where the contents of the well had disappeared before.

"Nate?" – Lara asked again in a worried voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I think I know where the water is gone." – he walked a few steps along the corridor that was going downwards, the continuation of it being lost in the darkness.

"Let's go." – he heard the blond woman's cold voice behind him, and a few seconds later all three of them landed in the tube-like passage. "Very well." – the woman seemed satisfied. "Now we are getting somewhere."

"Now what?" – Nate looked back at her, seeing that the blonde was still holding Lara, pushing a gun against her back.

"Now, Mr Drake, you'll lead the way. And don't try anything, else I'll hurt her. You can believe me, I'm good at it." – she looked down at Lara's thigh that was still dressed after she had thrown a knife at her the day before. Intentionally or not, she made a move, her knees hitting her leg. Lara squeezed her lips together, but Nate could see her left knee buckle under her.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, he turned around and started to walk down the corridor. What a nice place, he thought to himself, but he could not help admiring the smartness of those people who had built this structure.

The stillness was disturbing, only their careful steps could be heard in the corridor. No one said a word. After minutes of walking they arrived to a dead end. At least it looked like it. The way was blocked by a thick wall that was covered by a carving of a man on a horse. Not caring about the woman, Lara stepped closer, stopping next to Nate. They both stared at the wall with awe on their faces. Admiration that no one else could understand.

"Attila." – they both whispered almost at the same time. The horse looked big and dangerous, rearing on two legs, the man looked strong and superior, holding a sword towards the sky. Lara walked over, carefully touching the stone with her fingers. It felt cold, still a bit wet from the water that had been covering it a few minutes ago.

"Any ideas?" – Nate looked at her after examining the wall a bit. "I don't think this would be the end of the passage."

"No, surely not." – Lara mused, but did not find the solution. Remembering the tomb of Genghis Khan, she was certain, they had to open the way somehow. But how? That time they had had the eyes, but now they had nothing. Though she wanted it. Wanted it bad.

"I think I can help you." – the blond woman spoke out behind them. Excitement could be seen on her face for the first time when she looked at the carving of Attila. Finally, she thought. After such a long time it was there in front of her. And it was worth every minute of the agonizing wait. She reached into her pocket, pulling out something small from it. Lara's eyes followed the move with curiosity. The small object flickered in the air when the woman threw it to her. Lara caught it, surprised to see a ring in her hand. It looked very old and simple. Only a flat, round upper part with the same motive on it. Attila on the horse, with the sword in his hand.

"Where do you have this from?" – Lara looked at her in surprise.

"Do you think I only stumbled upon this map by accident? I've been searching for it for years. My father left me this ring after telling me fairy-tale stories all my life about a hidden treasure of a great king. I always thought it was just his imagination until I held this in my hand." – she moved her cold eyes to Lara's face. "I had the same look on my face when I understood what this was."

"So you had the map all the time?" – Nate cut in.

"Of course not. Do you think I would have let it out of my hands?" – she looked truly amused, but there was no warmth in her smile. "It took me years of research to finally find a small hint. And when I found it, you came in between." – suddenly she seemed even colder for a moment. "It wasn't hard to get the information I needed from Victor, but it was challenging to get you to do what I wanted." – she walked a bit closer, putting her hand on Nate's chest. When he wanted to move away, she pushed the gun against him again. "I always have to force you to everything." – she whispered. "Wouldn't it be easier if we joined forces?" – her fingers took the ring that was hanging around his neck, playing with it absently. "You and I" – some kind of strange allure emanated from her, catching Nate's attention for a moment. She leaned in, kissing him softly and he did not pull away. Maybe because of the gun pushed into his stomach, maybe because of something else. There was utter silence when she pulled away. "Open the gate!" – she ordered Lara, not taking her eyes off Nate, who was only standing there as if stunned. "Now!" – she repeated in a harsh voice when Lara was not moving.

She shrugged, walking over to the wall with the carving on it. Taking the ring, she tried to find the place to use it. It could not be that easy, she contemplated. Her fingers were groping around, but her mind was somewhere else. Why did it disturb her so much that the woman kissed him? Or even more that he did not push her away. Damn it, she cursed inwardly, trying to dismiss the thought. She had to concentrate on the job. Come on, because of one date he did not owe her anything. It had not been even a real date, she tried to convince herself. Then she saw it and suddenly forgot about her annoyance over Nate. Exactly there where it had to be. On Attila's finger. A small, round hole that looked as big as the ring. Raising to her tiptoes, Lara reached out and slowly pushed the ring into its place. The rumbling sound confirmed she had been right.


	15. Chapter 15

The rumbling grew louder and the woman's eyes moved there too. For a moment she forgot about everything else. Nate, Lara, the situation they were in. Slowly moving towards the gate, she could not look away. Cracks appeared in the stone… around the figure of Attila, and as if the horse suddenly started to come alive again, half of the gate gradually slipped to the side. Dust covered everything, blocking the view. The water did not seem to get in there over the centuries.

All three of them were caught by the moment, completely oblivious to the fact that they were enemies. Curiosity overcame them and they all took a few hesitant steps towards the blackness, trying to guess what awaited them inside.

"You stay here." – the woman ordered the armed guy, who seemed to be relieved. He was the only one who had rather fear on the face, instead of the excited awe.

As if suddenly waking up from a dream, the blonde stopped, raising the gun in her hand again. "Just stay where you are." – she ordered suddenly in a sharp voice. Hearing the click of the gun, Lara put up her hands again, cursing in herself. She wanted to see more than anything in the world what was in there.

"Mr Drake." – she smiled at Nate. "The pleasure is all yours." – she nodded towards the entrance. "I think we'll just wait here for a moment." – she grabbed Lara's arm again, pulling her away from Nate. Lara's eyes narrowed, wanting to resist, but the armed guy raised his gun too, so she rather stayed put once again. What would be the idea to have herself shot before seeing where the corridor went.

Nate and Lara exchange a curious glance, then he walked to the gate. "We need some light." – he said, and quickly lighted a torch on the wall. How convenient that the ancient had always left something like this behind. Some strange smell reached his nose as he walked more inside. Was it oil? Then he glimpsed it. On the floor there was a thin channel running deep into the darkness with some nasty looking liquid in it. Not having any better idea he held the torch to it, taking a step back for security.

The flame burst through the room with an incredible speed, lighting it up in front of them. "Impressive." – he muttered under his breath, looking around in the fairly big room. The ceiling was supported by dozens of pillars, and strange as it seemed dust covered the floor. He wondered how those people had been able to seal the room so much that the water had not found its way in over the centuries.

"I guess this is not the tomb yet." – the woman stepped inside, tossing Lara in front of her. Not seeing anything else but the pillars, it was fairly obvious that they had to keep searching. The air was thick and dusty, she held her arm in front of her face for a moment.

"I don't like this." – Lara whispered when she noticed something strange along the walls. Bones. Human bones. The place was full of them. They were lying around scattered everywhere.

"Seems Attila didn't want any witnesses either." – Nate offered, walking over to one side. He crouched down, touching the bones lightly. One skeleton shook at his touch, and collapsed with a loud crackle. "Sorry." – he stepped back quickly.

"Find the way." – she ordered, still holding Lara's arm. After seeing the scene she seemed much more cautious, looking around anxiously.

"First time in a tomb?" – Nate grinned at her, seeing her worried look.

"It'll be your last if you don't do what I tell you." – she hissed.

"No need to be so harsh." – he walked back to her. "Maybe we could find the way faster if you let Lara help me." – he suggested looking into her cold blue eyes. Nate thought it was worth a try. The woman seemed to contemplate for a moment, but then she tossed her forward.

"I'll keep my eyes on you. No tricks." – she trained the gun on Lara to prove her words. Moving back a bit, she watched them with narrowed eyes.

"I start not to really like her anymore." – Nate muttered to Lara while they started to look around for some hint.

"Really? And I thought you enjoyed her company." – she retorted ironically. "You looked like a nice couple to me."

"What do you want to say with that?" – he looked at her grinning. "Are you…."

"Look at that." – she interrupted before he could have finished the sentence. Nate turned his head in the direction where she was showing, and saw the simple lever on the wall. "Could it be that easy?" – Lara was doubtful.

"There's only one way to find out." – he said cheerfully, walking over there. Lara followed, the woman did not take her careful eyes off them. "We've seen this before, and we're still alive. What could happen?" – he looked at Lara for a moment, and when she shrugged her shoulder, Nate pulled the lever. For a long moment nothing seemed to happen, the air was standing still. All three of them held their breaths, looking around in anticipation. Suddenly, out of the blue, the floor under them started to shake. First only lightly, then within three seconds, it just rumbled once. Hard.

Nate only had time to push Lara aside, but could not escape anymore. The floor caved in under him and he landed in a dark pit, falling hard on his back. Before he could react, a grate closed over his head. So many things happened at the same time that Lara needed seconds to grasp it all. The big gate with the carving closed with a loud bang and another smaller one opened on the other end of the room. Loud clicks filled the room, echoing from the walls as if something was counting back.

"What the hell?" – she wondered, struggling to her feet again. "Nate?" – she wanted to get to him, but the woman grabbed her arm, pushing the gun against her head.

"We don't have time for that." – she ordered in a harsh voice.

"What are you talking about? We can't just leave him here." – her eyes widened in surprise, but seeing the woman's determined face, Lara had no doubt she meant it. The small gate made some noise behind them, the door lowering a little bit. Suddenly Lara understood what the countdown was good for. "The gate will close, we can't leave Nate behind."

"Exactly. And I want to be on the other side of it when it closes." – she pulled her further, but this time Lara did not let it. She seized her arm, stepping away from her. A surprised look appeared on the woman's face for a moment. "Don't make me shoot you." – their eyes met, hers icy blue, Lara's swirling brown.

"Lara?" – they heard Nate's voice from below. "I have some bad news for you." – he looked around a bit desperately, seeing that from somewhere water was sneaking into the pit, slowly gathering around his feet.

"What are you talking about?" – Lara kept her eyes on the woman, facing the barrel of the gun. What a stupid way of conversation, she thought wearily, slowly backing towards the pit.

"There's water coming in." – he answered in a light voice. Lara looked around in despair. The two things must be connected. She estimated that Nate had as much time as till the door closes.

"Can you get out?" – she asked. They were talking as if the woman was not holding a gun at Lara. Talking without seeing each other, without accepting the deadly danger they were both in. Two different situations with the same outcome. Death. Drowning or being shot. Lara could not decide which was better. Or worse actually.

"Move to the door." – the woman ordered in a cold voice, not caring about leaving Nate to die. She trained the gun on Lara, who carefully put her hands up. Taking a slow step to the side, she circled around her towards the door. One more loud crash and the door came down a few centimetres again. They did not look there.

"Enough." – Lara hissed and with a sudden move she tossed the gun out of the woman's hand. To her biggest surprise she reacted faster than she expected, punching at her with her other hand. She hit Lara in the face, making her stumble backwards.

"I've been waiting for this." – she smiled coldly and attacked again, but this time Lara was prepared. The kick coming from the side did not catch her off guard. Lara span around, hitting her hard in the stomach. The woman groaned out, but did not surrender. She swept Lara's feet out, sending her to the dusty floor.

"Oh I'd love to see that." – Nate grinned, hearing the noises. Imagining the two women fight, brought naughty images to his mind. Very naughty indeed. The water rose to his knees.

Lara tossed the woman away, jumping up from the floor. She was desperately searching for something to stop the countdown. Running to the pit, she looked down, seeing Nate standing in the water with a stupid grin on his face.

"Are you winning, honey?" – he teased her, but Lara had no time to answer as the woman grabbed her from behind, wrapping her arm around her neck. Lara fought back, trying to free herself, but the woman held her tight. She felt her arm pushing her throat, she could hardly breathe.

"I don't want to kill you. Not yet." – the woman hissed, swirling her around towards the door. "Just go and find the tomb for me." – Lara struggled, strained, wriggled, but could not get away from her. They were standing at the pit, she could see Nate's face down there, the water rising higher, the door coming lower. The grin disappeared from his face, Lara could see the worried anguish on it. Nate was looking at them as a lion locked in a cage, still unable to help her. They exchanged a desperate glance. "Decide fast." – the woman's cold voice entered her mind, filling it with hard resolution, naked hatred.

"No." – she cried out, hitting her hard in the face with the back of her head. The woman groaned in pain, letting her arm down. Lara gulped, gasped for air. She almost fell onto her knees, but she did not give in. She punched her again, and with a frantic kick in the face, sent her to the floor. The woman stirred, but then collapsed.

"Nice kick." – she heard his voice again. The door was half-way down, the water rose to his chest. Lara stepped closer, started to pull on the grate, but it proved steady.

"Damn it." – she cursed. No way she could free him that way. "Any suggestions?"

"Look around, there must be something." – the door moved again, the water rose to his neck. Nate held his head high to be able to breath.

"Give me a minute." – Lara moved away, so he could not see her anymore, but he still heard her moving around.

"I don't know if I have another minute." – he groaned, grabbing the grate that he could now reach as the water was rising. He started to push it, but it did not budge.

Lara checked everything, but there was no sign of a button, a lever or anything like that. The door went a bit down again, leaving only about half a meter space.

"You should leave till you can. No use if we both die." – he suggested, pressing his face against the grate not to go under water.

"Do you know me like that?" – she stopped, looking at him in despair.

"You remember the last time we were in such a pit?" – he looked at her smiling, and she dropped to her knees. "I said I was glad to know you."

"Don't start to say goodbye to me, you hear me?" – the door moved down a bit again, but they did not care. Nate reached out, taking her hand, linking their fingers.

"Promise me you'll find it." – he said, pulling her closer to share a last breath with her. What a nice way to die, he thought when her lips touched his in a desperate kiss.


	16. Chapter 16

"I won't let you die, for God's sake." – coming back to her senses she jumped up and not having any better idea, she simply pulled the same lever again they had used before. For a moment there was nothing happening just as earlier, only the water was swirling softly below her. Covering his face and Lara could not do anything against it. Then suddenly the grate pulled away and Nate burst to the surface, spitting out the water he swallowed.

"It was about time." – he grinned, gasping for air.

"God damn right." – they heard the woman's cold voice behind them and the click of the gun kept them in place. Lara peered to the door that was going down.

"Run." – Nate yelled at Lara and she did not hesitate. Not caring about the gun in the woman's hand, she raced towards the slowly closing gate. Nate jumped out of the water, hurling to the side when the woman shot at him. "Crap." – he cursed, hiding his face behind his arms. Not that it would have helped anything.

Lara rolled under the door, watching Nate run towards her. Shots echoed between the ancient walls, showing them a sound they had probably never heard before. Nate ran for his life, hurling forward in the last second, before a bullet hit the wall exactly where he had been sprinting a second earlier. Landing hard on the floor, he rolled under the gate that stayed open only to a few inches.

When anger cleared a bit, despair took its place. As the woman realised her situation, she let the gun down and started to run towards the gate as well. The gate moved lower, and she knew there was not much chance left anymore. She threw the gun away, as if it helped her to run faster.

"Come on." – Nate reached out to her, but the gate was almost down, and in the last second he had to pull his arm back. Suddenly the gate crashed down and there was all darkness around them. They were sitting on the floor, panting for air. Around them nothing stirred, no sound came through from the other side.

"I can't believe you still wanted to help her." – Lara said after a while, breaking the silence.

"You know I can't resist women in danger." – he joked, reaching for the lighter in his pocket. When the small light flickered, he could see the reprimand on Lara's face.

"I could see that." – she countered, standing up from the floor. To avoid his stare, she started walking down the corridor.

"Why are you saying that?" – he hurried after her, looking around with the lighter. They ended up in a corridor just like the ones before, looking like a sewer.

"You seemed to enjoy her company a little too much, don't you think?" – the words slipped out of her mouth before she could have thought about them. Damn it, she cursed herself for losing her temper. She did not want to see that stupid grin on his face again.

"I'm just such a nice guy." – he walked behind her, keeping the lighter a little lower to look at her bottom.

"She tried to kill you after all." – Lara realised the move, but did not turn to say anything. Hell, no.

"It wasn't her, it was the trap." – he continued teasing her, just to see where this conversation would go.

"So you don't mind that she wanted to leave you there to drown?" – this time Lara stopped, and instantly regretted it. Where was her cold British reservedness? She wouldn't let him mess with her.

"I knew you would save me." – he stepped to her, but Lara turned away before Nate could have finished the move. He enjoyed this far too much, she thought angrily. And had to admit that she did not mind it. But the hell would she confess that to him.

"Really?" – she countered, her voice becoming lighter and lighter. After all it was not a bad thing, they both made it out of there. Even got rid of the woman. Probably it was not a nice end to be closed into a lost tomb, but everyone deserved their fate. "Then why did you start to say goodbye to me?"

"Should I have missed the chance for that kiss?" – he grinned and Lara could hear his giggle. Why did she let him tease her and why did she not care? "Come on." – he grabbed her arm to stop him. "Admit it that you don't mind having saved me."

Lara squeezed her lips together when their eyes met. No, she did not mind. Not at all. "You kissed her." – she whispered, her voice holding a reproachful tone.

"No, I didn't. When I kiss someone, that looks different." – he held the lighter a bit higher to see her face. To see that funny little jealousy in her eyes. "Are you..?"

"Indifferent?" – she narrowed her eyes on him, interrupting before he could finish the sentence. She definitely did not want to hear that word. Lara bit on her lower lip when he stepped closer.

"Interested…. I wanted to say." – the annoying grin appeared on his face again that made her eyes sparkle in anticipation. No matter how she strained for the opposite, she felt attracted to him. More than she wanted to.

"I guess it's not so easy to get rid of you." – she smiled when Nate leaned closer.

"No, it's not." – yes, he liked that sparkle. The little green monster disappeared, and something naughty took its place. With an instinctive move he threw the lighter away to use his hand for something more exciting. The flame stayed on, landing about two meters away from them.

"What is that?" – Lara suddenly pulled away when she glimpsed something in the corner of her eyes. When Nate dropped the lighter, the small flame cast some light to something. To something that was far too interesting to pass by.

Nate turned his head to the same direction she had and saw what she meant. In the dim light an opening outlined, something like a door, but it was open. Lara moved away from him, approaching it slowly, carefully. Lifting the lighter from the floor, she held it high to see something. The small flame flickered, revealing a bit more with every step they took.

Lara noticed the small channel on the floor, and bent down to light the oily liquid. The fire burst across the room, lighting it up in a warm yellow light.

"I love these people." – Nate muttered, looking around in amazement.

"Now this seems the right place to me." – Lara declared, seeing the same carving on the opposite wall. Attila on the horse. Lara sniffed into the centuries old air, and felt the same excitement as always. A long forgotten place and she was the first one to put a foot on this floor for a thousand years. The tomb was far not as rich as the one of Genghis Khan, but there was enough treasure to keep them busy for a while. This time though, both Lara and Nate were looking for something else.

"Where's the coffin?" – he wondered, carefully examining the place.

"I'm afraid the game is not over yet." – she mused, walking slowly towards the middle of the room. On the floor there was a huge board, with four signs on it. Tilting her head to the side, Lara studied it. "What could be the rules?"

"What about trying it?" – Nate stepped to her side, cocking a brow at her.

"I like to take the careful way. I think we had enough surprises for today." – but before she could even grasp it, Nate stepped on the board, ready to jump if anything happened.

"Where would be the fun in being cautious all the time?" – after he made sure nothing happened, he pulled Lara to him. "Let's play." – he grinned at her.

"Tell me the rules then if you're so smart." – she looked at him defiantly.

"We'll find out on the way." – Nate took her hand and pulled her towards one of the signs on the board. When Lara stepped on it, a faint click could be heard. "You see, we're getting somewhere."

"I really hope for you that we're not going to land in water again." – smiling at her, Nate walked over to the other sign with the same colour.

"Don't tell me you don't like to swim with me." – he stepped on it and another click broke the silence. "I think we're all ready for the game."

"There is a difference between swimming and drowning." – she sent him a cheeky look, not moving an inch. "So what are we doing now, captain?"

"We've never drowned so far." – he grinned, moving his stare away from her to look around. "Considering there are two other signs, my best guess would be that we have to come to those at the end."

"That would be it? We just move over there?" – Lara teased him a bit, intentionally letting him lead her this time. It was a game indeed.

"Patience is a virtue. Have I said that before?" – when Nate stepped to the side, trying to guess the rules of the game, the clicking got fast, sounding threatening and harsh. Nate hesitantly returned to the sign and the clicking stopped. "Hmm…" – he mused aloud.

"I'm ready when you are." – Lara cocked a brow, imitating his earlier gesture. Wasn't it more entertaining to tease than being teased? Crossing her arms on her chest, she looked at him expectantly.

"Let's move together." – he suggested, holding her gaze. They both took a step to the same direction, but the harsh clicking started again.

"We're not getting anywhere like this." – Lara looked around. The board was very similar to a chessboard, but the small tiles had no different colours. It was only divided into smaller squares. "I'd say we mirror the other's moves. You move right, I move left."

"Just one at the same time." – he nodded and they started. The clicking started again, but this time it was slow, just like the second hand of a watch. The game had started.

"Move up and then left." – Lara stopped for a moment to plan the next steps. It was not at all easy to get to the other signs with the exact same moves. The clicking kept the rhythm. "I think we're good till it gets fast again." – Lara was not sure she wanted to know what would happen if they make a mistake. Knowing the tomb so far, it would not have been anything pleasant.

"Almost there." – Nate stated when they finally got closer.

"Take the right." – Lara urged him. "Not your right, my right."

"I know you excited about the old guy, but take it easy." – he looked at her in a mocking way again, but then did as she had told him. When they finally both stepped on the signs the clicking died away. Not daring to move they were waiting. Then something stirred under the floor. The ground shook, and they instinctively backed away. The middle of the board opened up and a small platform rose out of it, with the coffin on it.

"I'll be damned." – Nate shook his head, an easy smile spreading on his face. This was not the only thing happening though. At the entrance something moved too, but they were too busy looking at the coffin to realise it. Some heavy, droning noise could be heard from somewhere far. "Now tell me I wasn't right." – Nate stepped to the iron coffin, slowly pulling his finger over it.

"Unbelievable." – Lara whispered. If legend was true, inside the exact copy of the coffin was to be found in silver and then in pure gold. And the lost resting place of Attila, the greatest Hun. Their eyes met, smiling at each other happily.

"What a nice moment. I'm so sorry to destroy it." – a female voice talked out behind them and they jerked their heads to the direction of the door. The blonde woman was standing there, training the same damn gun on them. She looked a bit dishevelled, but not less elegant as before. "Thanks for finding it for me." – she signalled with the gun, telling them wordlessly to move away from the coffin. The droning noise grew louder.

"How did you get out of there?" – Nate looked at her in disbelief.

"Does that matter? I'm also resourceful when it's needed. Now step away from there." – she said in a cold voice, but did not move towards them. Standing at the door still, her greedy eyes studied the coffin, then the rest of the tomb. At that moment Lara noticed the small intrusion on the floor. Just in front of the woman. Hearing the noise grow louder, an idea started to take shape in her head. The woman also realised the sound, as if something was pressing against the walls from outside.

"Care to swim with me again?" – she whispered to Nate, who looked at her in surprise, but then he understood what she meant. Putting their hands up, they backed a few steps. The woman instinctively came closer, stepping on the button on the floor before she could have noticed it.

And then hell broke loose. Parts of the walls and the ceiling crashed and water poured in with such brutal force that it swept away everything and everyone. Lara reached out, grabbing Nate's hand, but then they went under, losing all sense of direction in the dark, swirling water. It mercilessly seized them, and Lara choked when they were washed out of the room. The water was finding its way through the tomb, racing down the corridors unstoppably. For a moment they came to the surface, grasping for air, just to be drawn down again. Lara willed herself not to breath in the water, objects swirled around her in a total chaos. She kicked, trying to get to the surface. Something caught her arm, and pulled her upwards. At least she thought it was upwards. A gasp of air again. The rumble was deafening, then she went under again and there was silence. When the idea had come to her mind, she had not imagined it so bad. The ruthless drift threw her against the wall, all air ran out of her lungs, letting thousands of bubbles into the water. Nate pulled her out again, Lara gratefully breathed in. Inhale… that was all she wanted. When she thought all was lost, the current crashed into a huge mass of slow water and all calmed and slowed down around her.

She tried to look around, but only saw the blackness. She needed air, desperately. Kicking herself away, she swam towards the surface, wherever it might be. Bursting out of the water, she drew in a deep breath, trying to keep her head out. She frantically looked around, and saw another head not far from her in the water.

"Nate." – she swam to him. When he heard her, he turned around, a smile on his face.

"That's what I call swimming." – he grinned, hugging her under the water. "But next time choose a place with warm water. I beg you."

Suddenly the river under them started to swirl again, and they looked around in despair what would come next. Bubbles rose to the surface, and they prepared for the worst. Not a meter away something big plunged to the surface. First only one end of it, then the other one, finally swimming on the water as a huge trunk.

"I won't believe this." – he laughed out, seeing the coffin of Attila floating next to them. "You wanted the old rotten guy, now you have it." – he grinned at her.

"And you are completely oblivious to the golden coffin inside, right?" – she said with feigned annoyance, then finally burst out in laughter. "You're one lucky bastard." – around them all kinds of objects emerged from the water, washed out of the tomb by the current. All kinds of shiny, golden objects.

"I hope the next one won't be her." – he joked.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" – Lara pulled away a bit, watching his grinning face in the moonlight.

"Don't tell me you're still mad at me for that kiss. I told you I had no choice. What would you do if someone pushed a gun into your stomach? You really can't hold this against me. And after all it was you, who.."

"Nate." – she interrupted in an impatient voice.

"What?" – he looked at her annoyed expression that slowly turned into a naughty smile.

"Would you shut up and kiss me finally?" – she teased him and enjoyed it.

"As you prefer." – he grinned back and pulled her into a kiss, not caring about the coffin and the treasures swimming all around them. Bryce would send a boat, but till then he would just make the best out of the moment. Maybe the best of all of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Another story comes to an end. Amazing how time flies. <strong>

**BIG thanks to everyone who read this and reviewed! Thanks guys! Special thanks to Najel, Angy1996 and Arthemida as always... for reviewing and beta reading! You helped me a lot.**

**I hope you all like how things developed between Lara and Nate. Any comments or suggestions are welcome! I plan to make a third part for this one, so they can get to know each other a little better. Maybe there will be something of that holiday after all!**

**In the meantime prepare for the sequel of the Simon story... it's on the way very soon!**

**Cheers!**


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